New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 18.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 486,278 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 76,334 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of Smurfit Westrock worth $21,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 2.1%

SW traded down $0.98 on Friday, reaching $45.10. 754,681 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,926,232. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.75. The company has a market cap of $23.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.96 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The company's quarterly revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SW. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.90.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.