Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 177,596 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,168 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,249,613,000 after buying an additional 820,362 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock worth $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company's stock worth $993,170,000 after acquiring an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company's stock worth $769,977,000 after buying an additional 1,594,939 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $43.92. 2,226,035 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,593,491. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.11. The stock has a market cap of $22.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.86 and a beta of 1.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.20.

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.