Allianz Asset Management GmbH Trims Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH cut its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 58.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 100,093 shares of the company's stock after selling 143,382 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $4,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,763 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $44.32. 1,361,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,700,059. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.87 and a 200-day moving average of $46.36. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.14 billion, a PE ratio of 67.16 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.