Versant Capital Management Inc Boosts Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 54.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 779 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $35,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after buying an additional 9,581 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $221,026,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,594,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 70,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,818,000 after buying an additional 16,790 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 54,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $43.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.76. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business’s revenue was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.20.

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.