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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.20.

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after buying an additional 1,233,997 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,057,000 after acquiring an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $953,311,000 after purchasing an additional 845,218 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at approximately $749,735,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $46.21 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $54.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.46.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

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.