Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Ramirez Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 366.5% during the second quarter, acquiring a total of 184,782 shares valued at approximately $7.97 million.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors collectively own 83.38% of Smurfit Westrock's stock, with notable increases in stake from firms like Vanguard Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co..
• Smurfit Westrock reported a quarterly earnings miss with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.45, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.57, despite a revenue increase of 167.4% year-over-year.

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 366.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 184,782 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 145,168 shares during the quarter. Smurfit Westrock makes up approximately 1.2% of Ramirez Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock worth $3,564,678,000 after buying an additional 316,074 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,051,299,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,244,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $461,598,000 after purchasing an additional 395,015 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329,653 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 39.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,100,067 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,889 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE SW opened at $42.93 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.05 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $44.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $52.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.80.

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.

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