Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Sets New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $52.37 and last traded at $52.15, with a volume of 307425 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SW. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.43.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $46.25. The stock has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a PE ratio of 55.01 and a beta of 1.05.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.91 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 7.13% and a net margin of 1.36%. As a group, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.3025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 132.97%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $42,000. 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.