National Pension Service Lowers Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

National Pension Service trimmed its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 84.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 741,866 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $5,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 231.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth about $63,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $41.33 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.40 and a beta of 0.96.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Truist Financial set a $50.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.