Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading Up 1.3% – Here’s Why

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)’s share price shot up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $45.15 and last traded at $44.79. 716,214 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 4,551,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SW shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $51.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.66. The stock has a market cap of $23.39 billion, a PE ratio of 81.47 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at $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 at this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently 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.