Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires New Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC, purchasing 47,103 shares valued at approximately $2,123,000 during the first quarter.
• Independent insider buying has increased, with Director Irial Finan acquiring 15,180 shares, indicating confidence in the company's prospects.
• Smurfit Westrock's stock has reported a 167.4% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, but recently missed EPS expectations, reporting ($0.05) per share.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 47,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,123,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE SW traded down $0.31 on Monday, hitting $44.05. 1,184,022 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,700,964. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $22.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.77 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50 day moving average price is $44.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.21.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.