Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Stock Price

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) had its price target decreased by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 38.13% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SW. Zacks Research raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.60.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $36.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.18. Smurfit Westrock has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth about $749,735,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position 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. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,654,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Company Profile

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.