Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 8,878 call options on the company. This is an increase of 517% compared to the typical volume of 1,438 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

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

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $44.49 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $23.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.80, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 251.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.83.

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.