Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,821,862 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 4,580.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,821,862 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $79,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 50.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.4% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $51.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.30.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW opened at $38.13 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $56.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $19.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.94.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The company had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.28%.

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.