Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

Key Points

• ING Groep NV significantly reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 54.2% during the first quarter, holding 28,932 shares valued at approximately $1.3 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Nuveen Asset Management and FMR LLC, increased their stakes in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter, indicating strong institutional interest with 83.38% of the stock held by institutional investors.
• Analysts forecast a Moderate Buy consensus rating for Smurfit Westrock, with recent price targets set between $46.00 and $63.00, despite the company missing earnings estimates in its last report.

ING Groep NV trimmed its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 54.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,932 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,181 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after acquiring an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,812,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,805,101 shares of the company's stock valued at $528,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,103 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,551,357 shares of the company's stock valued at $191,269,000 after buying an additional 874,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,905,979 shares of the company's stock valued at $102,734,000 after buying an additional 590,895 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial upped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,797,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,503,177. 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 fifty-two week low of $37.01 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $44.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.97. The firm has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a PE ratio of 66.17 and a beta of 1.06.

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). 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 quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 260.61%.

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.