Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 10,168 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 177,596 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,168 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares during the period. Boston Partners bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $304,377,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4,456.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,491,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,750,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $221,026,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW opened at $43.78 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.18. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.20.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.