Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

Key Points

• Smurfit Westrock PLC declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 per share, payable June 10 to shareholders of record on May 15, implying an annualized yield of about 4.7%.
• The company missed EPS expectations, reporting $0.33 versus the $0.44 consensus while revenue of $7.71 billion slightly beat estimates, and the stock fell to $38.50 on heavy trading volume.
• Analysts hold a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $53.91 (11 Buys, 1 Hold, 1 Sell), amid several recent target cuts and at least one downgrade.

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.4523 per share on Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th.

Smurfit Westrock has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $1.18 on Thursday, reaching $38.50. 12,399,134 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,069,938. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.76 and a 200-day moving average of $40.57. Smurfit Westrock has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $20.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.11). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $59.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.91.

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 reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.