Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 160,510 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,848,130 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 160,510 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $193,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.83.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $48.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.60. The company has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 251.39%.

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.