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

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

SW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Argus started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW opened at $54.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.58. 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 has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 305.48 and a beta of 1.03.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 672.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,519,000. Czech National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,967,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $843,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $561,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.