Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Takes Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC, purchasing 20,271 shares valued at approximately $913,000, as per their recent 13F filing.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Smurfit Westrock, with a price target averaging $57.78 following upgrades from several firms.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.8%, despite a high payout ratio of 260.61%.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $913,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,564,678,000 after purchasing an additional 316,074 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,051,299,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,244,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $461,598,000 after acquiring an additional 395,015 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% in the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after acquiring an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 39.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,100,067 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,889 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:SW opened at $45.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock's fifty day moving average is $45.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.51. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.