Tredje AP fonden Raises Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 31.3% during the first quarter, obtaining a total of 419,824 shares valued at approximately $18.9 million.
• Several hedge funds have also expanded their investments in Smurfit Westrock, with Nuveen Asset Management raising its stake by 51.6%, further emphasizing increasing institutional interest in the company.
• Smurfit Westrock announced a dividend payout of $0.4308, yielding 3.7%, despite a high payout ratio of 140.98%, signaling strong shareholder returns amid significant revenue growth.

Tredje AP fonden grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 31.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 419,824 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden owned 0.08% of Smurfit Westrock worth $18,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company's stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,763 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.0%

SW traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $44.37. 4,016,515 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,330,531. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.26. The company has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, 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 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 company had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.00.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.