Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Purchased by UBS Group AG

Key Points

• UBS Group AG increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 272% in Q3, acquiring an additional 8.22 million shares to hold 11.24 million shares (~2.15% of the company) valued at about $478.5 million.
• Smurfit Westrock raised its quarterly dividend to $0.4523 (annualized $1.81, ~4.5% yield), while the company reported a quarterly EPS miss ($0.34 vs. $0.46) and a high payout ratio of 136%, which could raise sustainability concerns.
• The CEO and CFO sold shares on Feb. 19 (40,000 and 10,000 shares respectively), trimming insider ownership to about 0.49%, even as analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target near $57.10.

UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,240,153 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned about 2.15% of Smurfit Westrock worth $478,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 970,595 shares of the company's stock worth $40,762,000 after purchasing an additional 74,360 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 520,366 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,454,000 after purchasing an additional 34,088 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,239,822 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,779,000 after purchasing an additional 372,177 shares in the last quarter. Exane Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 345,393 shares of the company's stock worth $14,703,000 after purchasing an additional 90,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,360,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on SW shares. Argus dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of SW stock traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.28. The company had a trading volume of 1,587,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,363,155. The company has a market capitalization of $21.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $44.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.56.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The business's quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is currently 136.09%.

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.

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