Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 278,030 Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Braun Stacey Associates purchased 278,030 shares of Smurfit Westrock worth approximately $12.9 million, while institutional ownership reached 83.38% following additional buying by several investment firms.
• Analysts remain broadly positive: 11 rate the stock a Buy and two a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $57.69 versus its $48.30 opening price.
• Smurfit Westrock reported quarterly revenue of $8.03 billion, slightly above estimates, but earnings per share of $0.35 missed expectations of $0.42. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 per share, implying a 3.7% annual yield.

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 278,030 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,862,000. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. owned 0.05% of Smurfit Westrock at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 38.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 662,595 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,652,000 after purchasing an additional 183,125 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,484,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth $1,161,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth $841,000. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth $62,885,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital set a $71.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a "buy" rating and set a $54.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Barclays upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.69.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of SW stock opened at $48.30 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.96. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $46.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.68.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.07). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 4.60%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.05) earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 192.55%.

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.

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