Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Price Target Cut to $50.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo cut Smurfit Westrock's price target to $50 from $55 but kept an "overweight" rating, with the new target implying roughly a 34.5% upside from the recent close (~$37.18).
• Q4 results missed: Smurfit Westrock reported $0.34 EPS vs. $0.46 expected and revenue of $7.58B vs. $7.63B expected, with a net margin of 2.24% and ROE of 6.10%.
• Insider selling was disclosed—CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares and CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares—and institutional investors hold roughly 83% of the stock.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 34.49% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on SW. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Argus dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.60.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:SW traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $37.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,813,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,254,491. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.30. Smurfit Westrock has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $19.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after buying an additional 1,233,997 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company's stock worth $1,397,057,000 after buying an additional 8,596,558 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company's stock worth $953,311,000 after buying an additional 845,218 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company's stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at approximately $749,735,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

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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