Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank Of Canada Analyst Says

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53 to $56 and kept an “outperform” rating, implying about 26% upside from the current share price.
• Other analysts remain mostly bullish: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Barclays all have positive ratings or targets, and the stock carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $54.83.
• Smurfit Westrock’s shares were trading down 0.7% at $44.45, while the company recently posted quarterly earnings that missed EPS estimates but slightly beat revenue expectations.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $53.00 to $56.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price target points to a potential upside of 25.98% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on SW. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.83.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:SW traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,027,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,827,977. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.37 and a 200 day moving average of $42.38. The company has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.72, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the company's stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company's stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company's stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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