Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership Acquires Shares of 577,630 Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership acquired 577,630 shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC, worth approximately $26 million, making it the 11th largest position in their portfolio.
• Several hedge funds recently bought stakes in Smurfit Westrock, with institutional investors now owning 83.38% of the company.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Smurfit Westrock, with Jefferies upgrading the stock to a "buy" rating and raising the price objective to $55.00.

Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 577,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,028,000. Smurfit Westrock makes up approximately 3.8% of Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership owned 0.11% of Smurfit Westrock at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SW. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.1%

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $45.31 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $37.01 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.57. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.65 and a beta of 1.04.

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). The business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 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.

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