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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.3333.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $495,335,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,397,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,654,571 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $46.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $52.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.85.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 251.39%.

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.