Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC, buying 291,138 shares valued at approximately $13.1 million during the first quarter.
• Analysts have recently set target prices for Smurfit Westrock, with Morgan Stanley raising their target from $51.00 to $53.00 and Jefferies Financial Group upgrading their rating to "buy" with a target price of $55.00.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a net margin of 1.14% on revenue of $7.94 billion, missing consensus EPS estimates by $0.12, even though revenue was up by 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 291,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,119,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Smurfit Westrock as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.9%

Smurfit Westrock stock traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.30. The stock had a trading volume of 3,339,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,747,248. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $45.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.51. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $37.01 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.12 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. 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.