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 - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.73% from the company's previous close.

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

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW traded down $2.58 on Thursday, reaching $44.78. 2,450,575 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,677,607. The stock has a market cap of $23.37 billion, a PE ratio of 36.72 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $44.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at $29,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Tsfg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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