Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Given New $56.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Key Points

• UBS cut its price target on Smurfit Westrock to $56 from $60 but kept a buy rating, implying about a 35% upside from the recent close.
• Consensus from analysts is a "Moderate Buy" with 11 Buys, 1 Hold and 1 Sell and an average target of $55.36, broadly in line with UBS's view.
• The stock traded at $41.38 (market cap ~$21.7B, P/E ~31.1); insiders including the CEO and CFO sold shares in February while institutions own roughly 83% of the company.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by UBS Group from $60.00 to $56.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group's price objective suggests a potential upside of 35.33% from the company's previous close.

SW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.36.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE SW traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.38. The stock had a trading volume of 567,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,138,992. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.32 and a 200 day moving average of $40.65. The stock has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%. Sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SW. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 90.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 6,378 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,188,000 after buying an additional 2,698 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 192.3% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,264 shares of the company's stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 8,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.8% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 41,772 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,882,000 after buying an additional 12,096 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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