AXQ Capital LP Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,795,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,483,000 after purchasing an additional 155,778 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $495,335,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,917,000 after buying an additional 5,511,887 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.1%

SW stock opened at $42.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.13 billion, a PE ratio of 58.60 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.66. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two 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.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SW shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial set a $50.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

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.