Natixis Advisors LLC Has $9.73 Million Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 44.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 251,614 shares of the company’s stock after selling 204,914 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $495,335,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,917,000 after buying an additional 5,511,887 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 473.3% in the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 4,504,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,447,000 after buying an additional 3,718,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE SW opened at $41.34 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.42 and a beta of 0.96. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 251.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $50.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.