Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 71,176 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 1,462.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,043 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 71,176 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,249,613,000 after acquiring an additional 820,362 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $993,170,000 after purchasing an additional 318,806 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company's stock worth $769,977,000 after buying an additional 1,594,939 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $48.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,103,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,205,527. The firm's 50-day moving average is $43.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side 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 declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SW. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.50.

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.