Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. has increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 16.1%, owning 914,246 shares valued at approximately $41.2 million.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $1.72 and a yield of 3.9%.
• The stock has recently faced a decline of 0.3% and has a market capitalization of $22.8 billion, with analysts predicting an average price target of $58.00 for the future.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 914,246 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 126,514 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.18% of Smurfit Westrock worth $41,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 69.1% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 16,190 shares of the company's stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 6,616 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,564,678,000 after acquiring an additional 316,074 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 6,489 shares of the company's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.9% during the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.6%

Smurfit Westrock stock traded down $1.18 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.94. 1,133,537 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,687,348. The company's 50-day moving average is $44.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.74. 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 PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The firm has a market cap of $22.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.58 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 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The company's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.4308 dividend. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.