Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Price Target Raised to $46.00

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has raised the price target for Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00, now indicating a potential upside of 2.73% from the previous close.
• Other analysts have varied opinions with Morgan Stanley boosting their target to $53.00 while Jefferies Financial Group increased it to $55.00, indicating a general consensus of a "Moderate Buy" rating for the stock.
• During the last earnings report, Smurfit Westrock reported earnings per share of $0.45, missing expectations, but their revenue of $7.94 billion surpassed analyst estimates.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SW. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $44.52. 186,828 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,694,274. Smurfit Westrock has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $23.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.45 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 260.61%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the first quarter valued at about $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after acquiring an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $196,095,000. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 68.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,962,433 shares of the company's stock worth $590,853,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after buying an additional 4,329,653 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

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.