53,282 Shares in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Bought by XTX Topco Ltd

Key Points

• XTX Topco Ltd has acquired 53,282 shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC, valued at approximately $2.4 million, during the first quarter of the year.
• Market analysts have raised price targets for Smurfit Westrock, with firms like Truist Financial setting a new target of $54.00 and Jefferies Financial Group increasing theirs to $55.00.
• Smurfit Westrock recently declared a dividend of $0.4308 per share, with a yield of 3.7%, although its payout ratio stands high at 140.98%.

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 53,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,401,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,268,000 after acquiring an additional 12,166 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 120.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 180,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,744,000 after buying an additional 98,887 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 161,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,710,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $823,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 156.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 700,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,749,000 after buying an additional 426,723 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $44.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,016,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,330,531. The stock's 50-day moving average is $44.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.26. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.23 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.