Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group nearly doubled its stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter, buying an additional 135,927 shares and bringing its total to 277,935 shares valued at about $10.7 million.
• The company’s latest earnings missed EPS expectations, reporting $0.33 per share versus $0.36 expected, though revenue came in slightly above forecasts at $7.71 billion.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 per share, implying an annualized yield of 4.7%, while Wall Street currently rates the stock a consensus Moderate Buy with a $53 average price target.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 95.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 277,935 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 135,927 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.05% of Smurfit Westrock worth $10,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company's stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company's stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company's stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company's stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,082 shares of the company's stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $38.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.90 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.39.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.00.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.

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