Marathon Asset Management Ltd Has $10.32 Million Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Marathon Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 266,831 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,465 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $10,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the third 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. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,083,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,235,000 after buying an additional 246,041 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $35.67 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $18.70 billion, a PE ratio of 49.55 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.36.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $50.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.18.

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.