Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Acquired by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 138.4%, owning a total of 71,821 shares valued at $3,217,000 at the most recent reporting period.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308, yielding approximately 3.9% with a payout ratio of 260.61%.
• Several institutional investors have raised their stakes significantly, with Nuveen Asset Management LLC owning over $1.1 billion worth of shares after increasing their position by 51.6%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 138.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,821 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 41,699 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 120.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 180,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,744,000 after buying an additional 98,887 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 156.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 700,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,749,000 after acquiring an additional 426,723 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 2,102.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 239,508 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,900,000 after acquiring an additional 228,635 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE SW traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $43.47. The stock had a trading volume of 296,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,691,527. The business's fifty day moving average price is $44.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.11. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.02 and a beta of 1.06. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 260.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on SW. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

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.