Capital Research Global Investors Boosts Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,596,558 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned approximately 0.07% of Smurfit Westrock worth $1,397,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on SW. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $41.34 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.73. The company has a market capitalization of $21.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.42 and a beta of 0.96. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 251.39%.

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.