Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 4,515,826 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 39.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,837,314 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,515,826 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.31% of Smurfit Westrock worth $263,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SW. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $29,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 231.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 927 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $63,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $41.38 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.48 and a beta of 0.96.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted 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). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 EPS 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 issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 251.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial set a $50.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.