Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 155,495 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 85.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 337,724 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 155,495 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Smurfit Westrock worth $15,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at $72,812,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,551,357 shares of the company's stock valued at $191,269,000 after purchasing an additional 874,748 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW stock traded up $1.7170 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.6670. The stock had a trading volume of 4,152,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,742,149. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock's 50 day moving average is $44.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $22.80 billion, a PE ratio of 66.10 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SW shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

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.