Amundi Increases Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Amundi has increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 6.6%, bringing its total ownership to 5,022,339 shares valued at approximately $214.5 million.
• Wall Street analysts remain optimistic, with eight analysts rating the stock as a "Buy" and an average target price of $57.78, following various upgrades in target prices from firms like Truist Financial and Jefferies.
• Smurfit Westrock recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.7%, despite a high payout ratio of 260.61%.

Amundi raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,022,339 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 311,770 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.96% of Smurfit Westrock worth $214,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.30. 1,256,795 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,740,197. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $45.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.65 billion, a PE ratio of 68.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.