Orbis Allan Gray Ltd Buys 4,329,653 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 74.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,114,213 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,329,653 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock comprises 2.6% of Orbis Allan Gray Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd owned approximately 1.94% of Smurfit Westrock worth $455,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Tsfg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SW. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE:SW opened at $47.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.74 billion, a PE ratio of 71.79 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The business’s revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 260.61%.

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.