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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 81.72 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 312.73%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at $431,653,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the fourth 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. 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.