Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $55.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $44.00.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SW. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.50.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of SW opened at $42.38 on Monday. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.04.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 1.98%. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.