Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 5,511,887 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 94.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,511,887 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $482,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SW. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 12.6% during the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SW shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.3%

SW opened at $42.17 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.57.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.34%.

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.