The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 13.0%, now holding approximately 331,526 shares valued at around $14.9 million.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported quarterly earnings showing EPS of $0.45, missing estimates, but revenues were up 167.4% year-over-year at $7.94 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 3.7%, while its dividend payout ratio currently stands at 260.61%.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 331,526 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,609 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of Smurfit Westrock worth $14,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 27,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 1,976 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 961,618 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,793,000 after buying an additional 282,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,783,941 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,383,000 after buying an additional 558,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $117,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock traded down $1.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.16. 1,090,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,741,860. 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 twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.38 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

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.