National Pension Service Increases Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

National Pension Service increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 849,509 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,373 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $36,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter worth about $1,051,299,000. Ruffer LLP bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $196,095,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,100,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,889 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,500,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,464 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW opened at $34.21 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $33.71 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92 and a beta of 1.11.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 120.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on SW. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $55.30.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.