Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 5,511,887 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,511,887 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 2.17% of Smurfit Westrock worth $482,917,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180,531 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,821,862 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $42.17 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.31 and its 200-day moving average is $41.57. The company has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be 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 is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 135.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SW shares. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.10.

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.