Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 550,200 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,087,008 shares of the company’s stock after selling 550,200 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $119,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,459,000 after acquiring an additional 127,665 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,412,000. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $958,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $15,001,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $40.54 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.82. The stock has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.30 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial set a $50.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.