Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 26,600 Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 26,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $45.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.72 and its 200-day moving average is $41.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.