Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.37 Million Investment in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 27,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,374,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,519,000. Czech National Bank bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,967,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $843,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $561,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $249,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE SW opened at $51.47 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.53. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a PE ratio of 285.93 and a beta of 1.05. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $52.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.91 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. Equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.3025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 672.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised Smurfit Westrock from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.43.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.