Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $256.36 Million Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 16.1%, owning approximately $256.36 million worth of shares as of the latest filing with the SEC.
• Several institutional investors, including AQR Capital Management and Amundi, have significantly modified their holdings, and institutional ownership now stands at 83.38% of the company's stock.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, reflecting a 3.7% yield, with a payout ratio currently at 260.61%.

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 16.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,689,254 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 788,082 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.09% of Smurfit Westrock worth $256,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after acquiring an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,100,067 shares of the company's stock worth $274,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $72,812,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SW shares. Barclays decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $1.74 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,557,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,744,893. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $37.01 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $23.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.03 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The business's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Smurfit Westrock Profile

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box.