Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Now Covered by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on SW. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.91.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE:SW opened at $39.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.04. 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 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value 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. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.