Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Stock Holdings Boosted by Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd

Key Points

• Swiss Life Asset Management increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 200.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 255,515 shares valued at about $9.88 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted holdings, and overall 83.38% of Smurfit Westrock’s stock is owned by institutions, though CEO Anthony Smurfit and CFO Ken Bowles both recently sold shares.
• Smurfit Westrock reported Q1 EPS of $0.33, missing estimates, while revenue of $7.71 billion beat expectations; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 per share payable June 10, for a 4.5% yield.

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 200.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 255,515 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 170,404 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company's stock worth $1,013,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company's stock worth $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company's stock worth $482,917,000 after acquiring an additional 5,511,887 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company's stock worth $478,493,000 after acquiring an additional 8,218,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,083,045 shares of the company's stock worth $429,235,000 after acquiring an additional 246,041 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $40.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.50. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.38 and a beta of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 251.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SW shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.18.

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.

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