Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading Down 2.7% – What’s Next?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) fell 2.7% on Friday . The company traded as low as $44.43 and last traded at $44.49. 1,319,249 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 4,531,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $23.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.78 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.41 and its 200 day moving average is $50.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,249,613,000 after buying an additional 820,362 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at about $967,582,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $993,170,000 after purchasing an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. 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.