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

Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.6154.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $48.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.83, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.38. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $8.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.93 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 4.60%. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 90.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 6,378 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,188,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 192.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 8,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.8% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 41,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 12,096 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.