State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 16,487 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 8.5%, selling 16,487 shares, which left them with a total of 176,895 shares valued at approximately $7.97 million.
• Smurfit Westrock's stock recently reported a 2.4% decline, with its current market price at $42.68 and a 12-month high of $56.99.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, yielding 4.0% annualized, despite having a high payout ratio of 260.61%.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 176,895 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,487 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW traded up $1.9970 during trading on Friday, hitting $45.6870. 4,850,915 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,298,755. The firm has a market cap of $23.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.22 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's fifty day moving average is $44.99 and its 200 day moving average is $45.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The company 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial upped 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.78.

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.