QRG Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 106.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,709 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,032 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $490,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,721 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,353 shares of the company's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 9.5% in the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 144,600 shares of the company's stock worth $6,516,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 29.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 147,280 shares of the company's stock worth $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 33,765 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of SW stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.73. The stock had a trading volume of 4,795,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,528,851. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm's 50-day moving average is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.02 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 1.98%. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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 reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.50.

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.