KBC Group NV Purchases 440,279 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 101.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 875,030 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 440,279 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.17% of Smurfit Westrock worth $34,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SW. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $43.17 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.45. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a PE ratio of 59.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 251.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.