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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus began 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 4.1 %

NYSE SW opened at $53.28 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The firm has a market cap of $27.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.02 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.41.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 672.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,221,119.24. The trade was a 14.29 % 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. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $340,848,000. 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.