Great Lakes Advisors LLC Invests $13.12 Million 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 bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 291,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,119,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Smurfit Westrock as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE SW traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.30. The company had a trading volume of 3,339,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,890,550. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of 67.12 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average is $45.66 and its 200-day moving average is $44.33.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 during 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 firm's revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.