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

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.70.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Argus initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE SW opened at $44.24 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 market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.43 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.72. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $38.55 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 3.90%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SW. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $542,000. US Bancorp DE purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $791,000. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $268,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $1,605,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $279,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.