Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.70.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SW. Argus assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. 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 report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,249,613,000 after acquiring an additional 820,362 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $967,582,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,170,000 after buying an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW opened at $44.51 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.69. Smurfit Westrock has a 12-month low of $38.55 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The firm has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a PE ratio of 80.93 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.73%.

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.