Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Bought by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,041,133 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 201,017 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned 0.20% of Smurfit Westrock worth $44,899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 121,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,231,000 after buying an additional 7,657 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $481,000. Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 43.2% in the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 49,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 14,959 shares during the period. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth $26,028,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 5.2% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 23,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $56.90.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $35.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.11. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $35.00 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The business had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.89 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.