Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 0.6% Higher – What’s Next?

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) shares traded up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.06 and last traded at $43.46. 924,544 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 4,589,843 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.94 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.32 and a 200 day moving average of $50.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd 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 Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

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

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $72,812,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,473,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,350,000 after purchasing an additional 173,975 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 3,738 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, BIP Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $488,000. 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.