Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) Receives $53.30 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.30.

SW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $51.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE:SW opened at $39.58 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $56.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $36.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.89 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 6.21%. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 16.2% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 85,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,623,000 after acquiring an additional 11,845 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 644,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,415,000 after acquiring an additional 35,651 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $13,568,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,494,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.