Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI reduced its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC by **59.8%** during the first quarter, owning approximately **765,749 shares** valued at **$34.24 million**.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in Smurfit Westrock, with Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG leading with a **40.6%** increase, reflecting a **strong interest** in the company among major funds.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of **$57.78** for Smurfit Westrock, with ratings ranging from **"Hold"** to **"Buy"**, indicating **positive market sentiment** toward the stock's future performance.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 59.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 765,749 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,140,230 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI owned 0.15% of Smurfit Westrock worth $34,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,564,678,000 after acquiring an additional 316,074 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during 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. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,244,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $461,598,000 after acquiring an additional 395,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after acquiring an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. 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. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE:SW traded down $1.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,339,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,747,248. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $45.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.51. 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 PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $23.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.12 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. 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.