Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 1.2% Higher – Here’s Why

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) was up 1.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $46.24 and last traded at $45.56. Approximately 1,536,932 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 4,567,228 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

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 50-day moving average price of $51.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.64 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. 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 312.73%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SW. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,252,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 9,581 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $597,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,039,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,049,000 after purchasing an additional 500,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $511,000. Institutional investors 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.