Marathon Asset Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Marathon Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 243,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,360,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.4% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of SW opened at $38.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10 and a beta of 1.10. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $56.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 120.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $51.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.30.

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.