Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.70.

Several research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 3.4 %

NYSE SW opened at $48.29 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 87.79 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.69. Smurfit Westrock has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $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 Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $431,653,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $386,712,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.