Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 81,449 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA cut its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 249,570 shares of the company's stock after selling 81,449 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $11,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 12.2% during the 1st 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. Exane Asset Management increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 118.7% during the 1st quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 218,289 shares of the company's stock worth $10,623,000 after buying an additional 118,487 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 83,146 shares of the company's stock worth $3,747,000 after buying an additional 6,994 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Fullcircle Wealth LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 34.6% during the 1st quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 16,773 shares of the company's stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 4,311 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,852,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,013,039. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $44.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68 and a beta of 1.02.

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 (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 company had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The company's revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 140.98%.

Smurfit Westrock 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.