Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Buys 66,538 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC significantly increased its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 1,010.9%, owning 73,120 shares valued at $3,295,000 after purchasing an additional 66,538 shares in the first quarter.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.45, falling short of estimates by $0.12, despite a revenue increase of 167.4% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308, with a high payout ratio of 260.61%, signifying a yield of 4.1% for investors.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 1,010.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,120 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 66,538 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,002 shares of the company's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 843,136 shares of the company's stock worth $37,992,000 after purchasing an additional 90,824 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 85.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 337,724 shares of the company's stock worth $15,202,000 after purchasing an additional 155,495 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 63,941 shares of the company's stock worth $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 5,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,051,299,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 4.6%

Shares of SW traded up $1.9970 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.6870. 4,850,915 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,298,755. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.24. 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 company has a market cap of $23.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.22 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. The firm's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.