Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading 7.6% Higher – What’s Next?
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyShares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report) rose 7.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $46.17 and last traded at $47.0340. 2,261,661 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 5,775,481 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.71.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.83.
Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 8.7%
The firm has a market capitalization of $24.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.
Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 251.39%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $953,311,000 after purchasing an additional 845,218 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,795,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,483,000 after purchasing an additional 155,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $495,335,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.
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.