Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Key Points

• Smurfit Westrock's shares gapped down by over 5% to $45.62 after reporting an earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.05), significantly missing analysts' expectations of $0.57.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308, reflecting a 3.64% dividend yield, despite having a payout ratio of 140.98%.
• Several analysts have issued varied ratings, with an average consensus of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $57.90, indicating potential growth despite recent earnings disappointments.

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $48.20, but opened at $45.62. Smurfit Westrock shares last traded at $47.30, with a volume of 991,043 shares traded.

The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.00.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,187,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,564,678,000 after acquiring an additional 316,074 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company's stock valued at $993,170,000 after buying an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 68.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,962,433 shares of the company's stock valued at $590,853,000 after buying an additional 4,444,704 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a PE ratio of 67.23 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day moving average is $44.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45.

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.