Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Price Target Lowered to $60.00 at Morgan Stanley

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $61.00 to $60.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.8%

SW traded down $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.91. The stock had a trading volume of 7,381,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,218,440. Smurfit Westrock has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.61.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Smurfit Westrock’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,472,329,000 after buying an additional 1,233,997 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,397,057,000 after acquiring an additional 8,596,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $953,311,000 after acquiring an additional 845,218 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth approximately $749,735,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.