Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 58.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,020 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 36,137 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,459,000 after acquiring an additional 127,665 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 970,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,762,000 after acquiring an additional 74,360 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,239,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,779,000 after acquiring an additional 372,177 shares during the period. Exane Asset Management grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 345,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,703,000 after acquiring an additional 90,233 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the 3rd 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. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.1%

SW opened at $41.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.53. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $21.84 billion, a PE ratio of 57.86 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 251.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were 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 $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.18.

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.