Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its Smurfit Westrock stake by 2.7% in the first quarter, selling 23,407 shares and leaving it with 847,401 shares worth about $33.8 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 83.38% of the company. Several large funds increased positions, including Capital Research Global Investors, State Street, and Orbis Allan Gray.
• Analysts remain constructive on the stock: Smurfit Westrock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $54.83, while recent earnings slightly missed EPS estimates but revenue came in above forecasts.

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 847,401 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,407 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.16% of Smurfit Westrock worth $33,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,397,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,596,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company's stock worth $953,311,000 after purchasing an additional 845,218 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company's stock valued at $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,795,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $531,483,000 after buying an additional 155,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $495,335,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.83.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $43.06 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $42.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.48.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The business's quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 251.39%.

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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