The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.43% from the stock’s previous close.

SW has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.91.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of SW opened at $40.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. AXA S.A. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in 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.