ING Groep NV Decreases Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

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 lessened its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 54.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund 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 modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock worth $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $72,812,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,805,101 shares of the company's stock worth $528,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078,103 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,551,357 shares of the company's stock worth $191,269,000 after acquiring an additional 874,748 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 44.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 590,895 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SW. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays decreased their price target 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, 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.2%

SW traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $43.10. 636,705 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,685,800. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year 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 $22.50 billion, a PE ratio of 65.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $44.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.84.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. 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.