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

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 85.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 337,724 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 155,495 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Smurfit Westrock worth $15,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock worth $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 28,783 shares of the company's stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 7,828 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $626,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 202.9% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,538 shares of the company's stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of SW stock traded up $1.6790 on Friday, hitting $45.3690. 1,708,034 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,738,462. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.74 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $44.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.29.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 260.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. 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 research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.00.

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.