Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Smurfit Westrock has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" from 13 firms (11 buys, 1 hold, 1 sell) with an average 1‑year target price of $53.45.
• In Q1 the company reported EPS of $0.33, missing estimates of $0.36, while revenue of $7.71 billion beat expectations and rose 0.7% year‑over‑year.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 (annualized $1.81), implying a 4.8% yield, but its payout ratio is very high at 251.39%.

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.4545.

SW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial set a $50.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $38.03 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.54. The company has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.81 and a beta of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock's quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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