Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Up 8.3% Following Dividend Announcement

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) shares traded up 8.3% during trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $44.18 and last traded at $44.2790. 3,334,192 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 5,378,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.90.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 120.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.60.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 8.5%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.62 and a 200-day moving average of $41.28. The company has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,997 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $749,735,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares in the last quarter. 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.