LPL Financial LLC Cuts Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 17.3%, selling 31,332 shares and now holds 149,576 shares valued at approximately $6.74 million.
• Smurfit Westrock reported an earnings miss with EPS of $0.45, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.57, despite revenue exceeding estimates at $7.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.72 and a yield of 4.0%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 260.61%.

LPL Financial LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,576 shares of the company's stock after selling 31,332 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,721 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.11. The stock had a trading volume of 2,389,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,771,277. The firm's fifty day moving average is $44.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.74. The company has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a PE ratio of 68.35 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

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). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%. Smurfit Westrock's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of 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 upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

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.