Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP has increased its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 16.5% in the first quarter, holding approximately 0.79% of the company, valued at $186.5 million.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported a quarterly earnings miss, with $0.45 EPS against an expected $0.57, but had a significant revenue increase of 167.4% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, translating to an annual yield of 4.0%, despite a high payout ratio of 260.61%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 16.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,138,983 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 587,626 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.79% of Smurfit Westrock worth $186,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 5.7% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 7,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1,010.9% in the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 73,120 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,295,000 after purchasing an additional 66,538 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 3.4% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,002 shares of the company's stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 12.1% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 843,136 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,992,000 after purchasing an additional 90,824 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 85.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 337,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,202,000 after purchasing an additional 155,495 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW traded up $1.9970 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.6870. 4,850,915 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,386,419. The business's 50-day moving average price is $44.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $23.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.22 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The company's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 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 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.