AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Takes Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.90.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $43.43 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.77 and its 200-day moving average is $43.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.80 and a beta of 1.09.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 260.61%.

Smurfit Westrock 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.