Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 177,596 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,168 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company's stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.28. The stock had a trading volume of 5,468,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,597,364. The company has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.69 and a beta of 1.00. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $42.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.