Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.3333.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial set a $50.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $44.49 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.48. The company has a market capitalization of $23.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 250.00%.

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.