Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Stock Position Lifted by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 75.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,834 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,087 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $849,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 42,613 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,295,000 after purchasing an additional 22,411 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $507,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth about $7,110,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,362,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,512,531. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.64. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $37.01 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

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.