Smurfit Westrock Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SW)

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 8,878 call options on the company. This is an increase of 517% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,438 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on SW. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SW. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $43.06 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.51 and a 200 day moving average of $42.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.81, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 251.39%.

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.