Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $1.54 Million Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 20.5%, selling 8,796 shares and retaining 34,092 shares, valued at approximately $1.54 million.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported a Q2 earnings miss with an EPS of $0.45, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.57, although revenue was up by 167.4% year-over-year at $7.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308, equating to an annualized yield of 3.6%, with a payout ratio of 260.61%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 20.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,092 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,796 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 20.7% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,721 shares of the company's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.8% during the first quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the company's stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 2.8% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,893 shares of the company's stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% in the first quarter. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV now owns 37,137 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.94. The stock had a trading volume of 4,415,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,995,403. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.12 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.85.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on SW. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

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.