LPL Financial LLC Cuts Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

LPL Financial LLC lowered its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 17.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 149,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,332 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $43.43 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.75. The stock has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 260.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.00.

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.