Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Holdings Raised by Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 28.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,954 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SW. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares during the last quarter. Ruffer LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 473.3% during the fourth quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 4,504,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,447,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180,531 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $41.09 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.49. The company has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.07 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65.

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

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.