Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 1,159 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 4.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,321 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,159 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 121,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,231,000 after acquiring an additional 7,657 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $481,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 106.3% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 6,032 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $26,028,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 57,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 5.5%

Shares of SW opened at $40.53 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 260.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $57.80.

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.