Groupama Asset Managment Boosts Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 644,001 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,651 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $27,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $13,568,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,494,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $824,000. Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 209.2% during the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 85,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,625,000 after acquiring an additional 57,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $38.67 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.27 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.33. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 136.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.