Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.70.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SW. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. 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 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, 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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $48.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 87.79 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change 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.