Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 35,008 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 7,838% compared to the average volume of 441 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.50.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.1 %

SW stock opened at $44.35 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $50.60. The company has a market capitalization of $11.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.27 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.64.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.06). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.36% and a return on equity of 7.13%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.91 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $32,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $83,000. Institutional investors 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.