Invesco Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 4.0% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 10.24 million shares valued at around $461.6 million.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.45, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $0.57, despite a substantial revenue increase of 167.4% year-over-year.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, with a yield of 3.9%, although its payout ratio is notably high at 260.61%.

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,244,072 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 395,015 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.96% of Smurfit Westrock worth $461,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Tsfg LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of 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 raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $45.11. 2,389,087 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,771,277. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%. The business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 260.61%.

Smurfit Westrock 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.