Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Holdings Lessened by Polaris Capital Management LLC

Polaris Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 28.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,778,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 692,263 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock accounts for about 5.1% of Polaris Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $76,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 59,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 2,213 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 122,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,294,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $481,000. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 89.9% in the 2nd quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 14,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 7,021 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 11,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,870 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE SW opened at $41.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 63.54 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.05.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%.The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The company’s revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

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.