Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $54.5556.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $36.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.54. Smurfit Westrock has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $56.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $18.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The firm had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.89 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 42.5% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 355,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,345,000 after purchasing an additional 106,040 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 7.0% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 520,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,454,000 after buying an additional 34,088 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 121,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,231,000 after buying an additional 7,657 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.3% in the second quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 60,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 7,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.2% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 8,161 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.