Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 4.2%, bringing its ownership to 562,032 shares valued at $24.25 million, making it the fund’s 26th largest investment.
• Recently, several analysts have upgraded their ratings on Smurfit Westrock, with Morgan Stanley raising its price target from $51 to $53 and Jefferies Financial Group increasing theirs from $44 to $55.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.9%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 260.61%.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 562,032 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,900 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock makes up approximately 0.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. owned 0.11% of Smurfit Westrock worth $24,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of SW. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SW shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 research report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of SW stock opened at $44.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $23.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.12 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.39. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $37.01 and a 1-year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.