Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Up 3.5% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) rose 3.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $46.18 and last traded at $46.12. Approximately 501,900 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 5,486,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SW shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.57.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 4.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.43 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.83.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $7.91 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.