Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Stake Boosted by Exane Asset Management

Exane Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 345,393 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,233 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock comprises approximately 5.3% of Exane Asset Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Exane Asset Management’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $14,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,862 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,500,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,812,000 after buying an additional 1,399,464 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after buying an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.60.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $42.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.39. The company has a market cap of $22.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $55.54.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The business had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.89 billion. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.