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

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

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SW. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $47.19. 1,852,615 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,013,039. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 1.02. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $44.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.98. 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 released its 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 business had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts 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 for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research 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 for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan acquired 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, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.