Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• The Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 11.9%, owning 940,766 shares valued at approximately $42.39 million after selling 126,925 shares in the first quarter.
• Several analysts upgraded Smurfit Westrock, with Jefferies Financial Group raising the stock's rating from "hold" to "buy" and increasing its price target from $44 to $55.
• Smurfit Westrock reported $0.45 EPS for the last quarter, missing expectations, but achieved a revenue of $7.94 billion, above analyst estimates of $7.88 billion.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 940,766 shares of the company's stock after selling 126,925 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.18% of Smurfit Westrock worth $42,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 284.8% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,416 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock worth $455,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. Albar Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,345,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $473,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 242.2% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 38,729 shares of the company's stock worth $1,745,000 after purchasing an additional 27,413 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 2.8%

SW traded down $1.32 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $45.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,359,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,755,866. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $45.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.56. The stock has a market cap of $23.69 billion, a PE ratio of 68.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The company had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

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.