Park Avenue Securities LLC Decreases Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 21.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,515 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,491 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $42.69 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.10. The company has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.67 and a beta of 1.09.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.88 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 260.61%.

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.