Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 0.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)’s share price traded up 0.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.06 and last traded at $43.46. 924,544 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 4,589,843 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SW has been the subject of several research reports. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $627,244,000. FMR LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $431,653,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $386,712,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.