Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.30.

SW has been the subject 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. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research cut Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth approximately $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in 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 last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth $196,095,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:SW opened at $38.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.16 and a beta of 1.10. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $56.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.83.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The company had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.89 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 120.28%.

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.