Vanguard Group Inc. Has $3.56 Billion Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC to 79,187,333 shares, valuing their holdings at approximately $3.56 billion at the end of the first quarter.
• Smurfit Westrock reported earnings of $0.45 per share for the last quarter, missing analyst estimates, while revenue rose significantly by 167.4% compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, with an annualized yield of 3.9% and a payout ratio of 260.61%.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 316,074 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 15.17% of Smurfit Westrock worth $3,564,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $993,170,000 after purchasing an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,003,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $484,927,000 after purchasing an additional 149,210 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC now owns 7,046,359 shares of the company's stock worth $379,517,000 after purchasing an additional 149,388 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in 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 worth $365,383,000 after purchasing an additional 558,417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $43.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.38 and a beta of 1.06. 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 moving average price of $44.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during 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%. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.