Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Receives $60.70 Consensus PT from Analysts

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.70.

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $72,812,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,473,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,350,000 after acquiring an additional 173,975 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,738 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, BIP Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $488,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $46.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.61 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Smurfit Westrock has a 52-week low of $38.55 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

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.