Public Sector Pension Investment Board Has $1.93 Million Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 32.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,351 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,019 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,862 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,500,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,464 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $48.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.44. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $54.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th 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 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.20.

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.