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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.20.

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $749,735,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,057,000 after buying an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,351,000 after buying an additional 5,654,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $51.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a PE ratio of 38.99 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $55.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.38.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

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.