Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys New Shares in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought 161,792 Smurfit Westrock shares worth approximately $7.5 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 83.38% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with 11 Buy ratings and two Holds. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $57.69, above its recent $45.45 opening price.
• Smurfit Westrock reported quarterly revenue of $8.03 billion, up 1.1% year over year, but EPS of $0.35 missed estimates by $0.07. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 per share, representing an annualized yield of about 4.0%.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 161,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,484,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on SW shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.69.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $45.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm's 50-day moving average is $46.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.07). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 4.60%. The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.05) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 192.55%.

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.

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