Oak Thistle LLC Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,472,329,000 after buying an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,779,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $896,661,000 after acquiring an additional 339,787 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $749,735,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW opened at $38.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.08. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $56.05. The company has a market capitalization of $19.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66 and a beta of 1.10.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 120.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $51.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.30.

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.