Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Stock Price Up 2.7% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) shot up 2.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $45.63 and last traded at $45.47. 639,075 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 4,556,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.72 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $431,653,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.