Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Holdings Cut by Lansdowne Partners UK LLP

Lansdowne Partners UK LLP decreased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,286,111 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,945 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock comprises approximately 3.6% of Lansdowne Partners UK LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $54,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $13,370,000. Distillate Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $15,001,000. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% during the third quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 56,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% in the third quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 266,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,343,000 after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $39.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.40. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.4523 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 136.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.