JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 39.3%, acquiring an additional 1,721,889 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total to 6,100,067 shares.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.9% and a high payout ratio of 260.61%.
• The company's latest earnings report showed $7.94 billion in revenue, exceeding estimates, but it reported $0.45 earnings per share, which missed consensus expectations by $0.12.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 39.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,100,067 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,721,889 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.17% of Smurfit Westrock worth $274,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $202,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $541,000. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 111,500 shares of the company's stock worth $5,024,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 37.4% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 329,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,828,000 after purchasing an additional 89,564 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.0%

SW opened at $44.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.08 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $44.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.74. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one 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.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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 research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.

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