Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 542.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 79,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $495,335,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,397,057,000 after buying an additional 8,596,558 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,351,000 after acquiring an additional 5,654,571 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.6%

SW stock opened at $45.65 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SW shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.33.

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.