Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 26.3%, owning 26,774 shares valued at approximately $1.2 million at the end of the 1st quarter.
• Smurfit Westrock recently missed analysts' earnings estimates for the quarter, reporting $0.45 EPS versus the consensus estimate of $0.57 EPS, despite having a revenue of $7.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, representing a 3.8% yield with a payout ratio of 260.61%.

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 26.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,774 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,534 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 202.9% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 27,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,976 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 98,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,285,000 after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 949,098 shares of the company's stock worth $51,120,000 after acquiring an additional 41,044 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of SW stock traded up $0.99 on Friday, reaching $47.38. 4,320,658 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,103,818. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business's 50 day moving average price is $45.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.93. The company has a market capitalization of $24.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.79 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced 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 report on Monday, June 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.