Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $55.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $44.00.

SW has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock 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 for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW traded up $1.25 during trading on Monday, hitting $43.23. The company had a trading volume of 3,854,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,507,839. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. Smurfit Westrock has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.61 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 18,661 shares of the company's stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,562,000. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,028,000. SWS Partners lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. SWS Partners now owns 65,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.