APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 20,670 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• APG Asset Management N.V. sold 20,670 shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC, reducing its stake by 23.2% to 68,349 shares, valued at $2,851,000.
• Institutional ownership of Smurfit Westrock remains high at 83.38%, with several large investors making varying changes to their positions.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Smurfit Westrock, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.78.

APG Asset Management N.V. lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 23.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,349 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,670 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $2,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SW. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 202.9% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 27,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 1,976 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 98,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,285,000 after buying an additional 11,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 949,098 shares of the company's stock worth $51,120,000 after purchasing an additional 41,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial upped 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, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.8%

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $46.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $45.11 and a 200-day moving average of $45.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.16 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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