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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.7273.

SW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 90.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,378 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,188,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 192.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 8,726 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 41,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 12,096 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $42.20 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.70. 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 (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.