Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 33.6%, now holding 29,856 shares valued at approximately $1.35 million.
• Recent analyst upgrades show a positive outlook for Smurfit Westrock, with several firms raising their price targets, including Truist Financial's increase from $50.00 to $54.00 and Jefferies Financial Group's upgrade to $55.00.
• Smurfit Westrock reported a net margin of 1.98% and a significant revenue increase of 167.4% year-over-year in its latest earnings, though it missed earnings expectations with a reported EPS of ($0.05).

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 33.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,856 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,128 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,763 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SW. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. 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 report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of SW traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.37. 4,016,515 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,330,531. The stock has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.23 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50-day moving average is $44.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.30. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

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

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 260.61%.

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.