Lansdowne Partners UK LLP Cuts Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Lansdowne Partners UK LLP lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,286,111 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,945 shares during the quarter. Smurfit Westrock comprises about 3.6% of Lansdowne Partners UK LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP owned 0.25% of Smurfit Westrock worth $54,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 970,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,762,000 after purchasing an additional 74,360 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.0% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 520,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,454,000 after buying an additional 34,088 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 42.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,239,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,779,000 after buying an additional 372,177 shares during the period. Exane Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.4% during the third quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 345,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,703,000 after buying an additional 90,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,360,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given 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 $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $39.43 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 136.09%.

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.