Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 23.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 194,600 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 36,900 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $50.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.38 and a 200-day moving average of $43.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $52.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.96.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.07). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.60% and a net margin of 1.59%.The firm had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.05) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 192.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.62.

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.