Royal Bank of Canada Sells 126,925 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

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 reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 11.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 940,766 shares of the company's stock after selling 126,925 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.18% of Smurfit Westrock worth $42,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SW. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted 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 during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SW. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. 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 report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

NYSE:SW traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $45.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,898,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,948,166. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.26 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is currently 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.