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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SW. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 5,053 shares of the company's stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,689,254 shares of the company's stock valued at $256,358,000 after buying an additional 788,082 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 90.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 6,378 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 5,022,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $214,504,000 after buying an additional 311,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 284.8% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,416 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SW shares. Barclays reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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 boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,334,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,800,907. The company has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a PE ratio of 66.71 and a beta of 1.04. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $45.49 and a 200-day moving average of $44.28. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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