Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Now Covered by Truist Financial

Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on SW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Argus started 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 on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $54.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.58. The firm has a market cap of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 305.48 and a beta of 1.03. Smurfit Westrock has a 1-year low of $38.55 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.23). Smurfit Westrock had a positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. The firm had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. Research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 672.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock 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 directly owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SW. Private Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $9,405,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $597,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $520,000. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,207,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,039,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,049,000 after buying an additional 500,699 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.