Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 101,439 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,083 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $4,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Robeco Schweiz AG purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth approximately $3,708,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.9% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 28,519 shares of the company's stock worth $1,285,000 after buying an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,205 shares of the company's stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,354 shares of the company's stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 3,530 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaStar Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 12.2% during the first quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 24,293 shares of the company's stock worth $1,095,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, Director Irial Finan purchased 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, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $46.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,920,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,938,404. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The stock's 50 day moving average is $44.56 and its 200 day moving average is $46.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarterly revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 140.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SW. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.90.

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.