Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.33 EPS

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33), Zacks reports. Smurfit Westrock had a positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $50.97 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $53.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.55. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $38.55 and a one year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a PE ratio of 283.18 and a beta of 1.02.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 672.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% 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.