Mizuho Securities USA LLC Reduces Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• Mizuho Securities USA LLC reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 15.5% during Q1, owning 39,588 shares valued at approximately $1.78 million.
• Smurfit Westrock reported $0.45 earnings per share for Q2, falling short of the analysts' estimates of $0.57, but achieved a revenue of $7.94 billion, exceeding expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 4.0% and a payout ratio of 260.61%.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC cut its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,588 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,246 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 39.3% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,100,067 shares of the company's stock worth $274,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,889 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $72,812,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,551,357 shares of the company's stock worth $191,269,000 after purchasing an additional 874,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,905,979 shares of the company's stock worth $102,734,000 after purchasing an additional 590,895 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE:SW traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $45.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,389,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,771,277. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.35 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $44.97 and a 200-day moving average of $45.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 260.61%.

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.