Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Stake Raised by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 704,670 shares worth about $28.1 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with 11 Buy ratings and 2 Hold ratings; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy and the average price target is $54.83.
• Smurfit Westrock reported Q1 EPS of $0.33, missing expectations, while revenue came in at $7.71 billion, slightly above estimates. The company also pays a quarterly dividend yielding about 4.1%.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 704,670 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 27,527 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Smurfit Westrock worth $28,081,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company's stock worth $5,459,000 after purchasing an additional 127,665 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,412,000. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 369,652 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,294,000 after purchasing an additional 30,804 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at $924,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1,042.7% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 207,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,021,000 after purchasing an additional 189,276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.83.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $44.39 on Monday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $42.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.42. 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 company has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.