Bank of America Corp DE Increases Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Bank of America increased its Smurfit Westrock position by 6.2% in the first quarter, owning 5.46 million shares worth approximately $217.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 83.38% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 11 Buy ratings and two Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $57.23 average price target.
• Smurfit Westrock reported quarterly revenue of $8.03 billion, slightly ahead of expectations, but earnings per share of $0.35 missed estimates. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523, representing a 3.9% annualized yield.

Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,460,163 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 318,336 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 1.04% of Smurfit Westrock worth $217,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $495,335,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company's stock worth $1,397,057,000 after buying an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company's stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,351,000 after buying an additional 5,654,571 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 473.3% in the 4th quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 4,504,151 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,447,000 after buying an additional 3,718,562 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital set a $71.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.23.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock opened at $46.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of 49.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $44.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.88. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.07). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.60% and a net margin of 1.59%.The business had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.05) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 192.55%.

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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