Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. has significantly reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 97.4%, selling over 5 million shares, leaving them with 142,798 shares valued at approximately $6.43 million.
• Smurfit Westrock reported a 161.3% year-over-year revenue increase in its latest quarterly earnings, achieving $7.66 billion, and surpassed analysts' expectations with earnings of $0.73 per share.
• The company's recently declared dividend was $0.4308 per share, yielding about 3.7%, but its payout ratio stands at a high 140.98%.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 97.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 142,798 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,348,294 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $16,233,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 18.6% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 486,278 shares of the company's stock worth $21,912,000 after acquiring an additional 76,334 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $3,708,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.9% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 28,519 shares of the company's stock worth $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,205 shares of the company's stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.21. 410,069 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,644,054. 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 market cap of $25.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.47 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $44.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.39. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 140.98%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.90.

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.