Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 2.4% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) were up 2.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $44.62 and last traded at $44.46. Approximately 428,750 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 4,567,593 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Argus assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.67. The company has a market capitalization of $22.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.19 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 (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%. Analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase 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 3.91%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $431,653,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $386,712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.