Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Price Target Lowered to $64.00 at Morgan Stanley

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

SW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Argus began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial began 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 upped 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. upped 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $43.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.12 and a 200-day moving average of $50.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.60 billion, a PE ratio of 78.94 and a beta of 0.99. 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 has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SW. Norges Bank bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $627,244,000. FMR LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $431,653,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $386,712,000. 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.