Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.18.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $41.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.82 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,848,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,141,000 after purchasing an additional 160,510 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $60,139,000. Balefire LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $813,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 101.3% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 875,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,870,000 after acquiring an additional 440,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 1st quarter worth $4,115,000. 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.