Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Sells 168,868 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB sold 168,868 shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC, reducing its stake by 50.7%, leaving them with 164,330 shares valued at approximately $7.4 million.
• Several large investors increased their stakes during the same period, with OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp growing its stake by 139.3% and BNP Paribas Financial Markets increasing its holdings by 2.6%.
• Analysts have set mixed price targets for Smurfit Westrock, with an average target of $57.78 and most firms giving the stock a "buy" or "overweight" rating.

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lessened its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 50.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 164,330 shares of the company's stock after selling 168,868 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 139.3% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 76,467 shares of the company's stock worth $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 44,513 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 986,592 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,456,000 after purchasing an additional 24,974 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 46.0% in the first quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,460 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 2,693,844 shares of the company's stock worth $121,385,000 after purchasing an additional 30,880 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 50.3% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 197,150 shares of the company's stock worth $8,884,000 after purchasing an additional 65,963 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SW. Truist Financial increased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of 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, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $47.38 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.79 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 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 business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. The company's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio 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.

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