Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Up 2.7% – Time to Buy?

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)’s stock price traded up 2.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $45.63 and last traded at $45.47. 639,075 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 4,556,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Argus assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.96 and a 200-day moving average of $50.71. The company has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.79 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $362,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $215,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $5,955,000. Finally, KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $9,723,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.