Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 7.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)’s share price rose 7.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $46.17 and last traded at $47.0340. 2,261,661 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 5,775,481 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.83.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a PE ratio of 67.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.60.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 251.39%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wahed Invest LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.