Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.70.

SW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 3.8 %

NYSE SW opened at $54.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 305.48 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.58. Smurfit Westrock has a 12-month low of $38.55 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.23). Smurfit Westrock had a positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The business had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 672.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,221,119.24. The trade was a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $340,848,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.