Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Smurfit Westrock PLC has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from nine research firms, with one hold and eight buy ratings, and an average twelve-month target price of $57.78.
• Institutional investors currently own 83.38% of Smurfit Westrock's stock, with significant stakes purchased in recent quarters, including a new position by Nuveen LLC worth over $1 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308, translating to an annualized dividend of $1.72 and a yield of 3.8%, despite a payout ratio of 260.61%.

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $57.7778.

SW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut 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. Truist Financial upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SW. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth $1,051,299,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company's stock worth $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock worth $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares during the period. Finally, Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth about $196,095,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $45.67 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.06. Smurfit Westrock has a 52 week low of $37.01 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.19 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $7.94 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is 260.61%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.