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

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.8333.

A number of analysts have commented on SW shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $48.67 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.59, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 251.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,459,000 after purchasing an additional 127,665 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $2,412,000. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 369,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,294,000 after buying an additional 30,804 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $924,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1,042.7% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 207,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,021,000 after buying an additional 189,276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.