Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.20.

A number of analysts recently commented on SW shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth about $5,252,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 9,581 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $221,026,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,602 shares of the company's stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $418,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW opened at $46.43 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $24.24 billion, a PE ratio of 84.42 and a beta of 1.00. Smurfit Westrock has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.46.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.41 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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