Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.30.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $51.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of SW stock opened at $38.84 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $56.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.96 and its 200-day moving average is $41.83. The stock has a market cap of $20.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.16 and a beta of 1.10.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $85,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.2% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 85,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,623,000 after purchasing an additional 11,845 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 644,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,415,000 after buying an additional 35,651 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $13,568,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $3,494,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.