Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys Shares of 30,985 Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 30,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,396,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 127,600.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,277 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company's stock worth $769,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,939 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,003,480 shares of the company's stock worth $484,927,000 after purchasing an additional 149,210 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 106.3% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 6,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 120.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 180,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,744,000 after purchasing an additional 98,887 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective 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. One research 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 a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.90.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW traded up $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.86. 3,098,021 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,241,164. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.46. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a market cap of $25.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.05 and a beta of 1.02.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The firm's revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is 140.98%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

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.