Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Position Boosted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 704,670 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,527 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $28,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SW. Verbena Value LP boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 67.0% during the first quarter. Verbena Value LP now owns 1,076,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,899,000 after purchasing an additional 431,900 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 58.9% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 32,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 50.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 7,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 2,456 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 2,886 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,056,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.2%

SW stock opened at $44.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a PE ratio of 61.66, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.83.

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.