Strs Ohio Purchases New Shares in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has made a new investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC, acquiring 34,654 shares valued at approximately $1.56 million in the first quarter.
• Several major institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Smurfit Westrock, with Nuveen LLC investing over $1 billion in this period.
• Smurfit Westrock recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, with a 3.9% yield and a high dividend payout ratio of 260.61%.

Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 34,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,562,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,028,000. SWS Partners grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.3% in the first quarter. SWS Partners now owns 65,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,492 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 5.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 519,168 shares of the company's stock worth $23,394,000 after purchasing an additional 11,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.8% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 41,772 shares of the company's stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 12,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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, Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.84. 19,817,702 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,454,105. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $45.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.22. The firm has a market cap of $22.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.42 and a beta of 1.04. 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 (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 260.61%.

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.