Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Trading Up 7.9% – Here’s What Happened
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemSmurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report)’s stock price shot up 7.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $42.63 and last traded at $42.7590. 3,061,381 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 4,707,810 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.64.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SW. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.60.
View Our Latest Analysis on Smurfit Westrock
Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance
The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.71. The firm has a market cap of $22.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.
Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.10). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The firm had revenue of $8 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.89 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.
Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 120.28%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 520,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,454,000 after buying an additional 34,088 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 42.5% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 355,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,345,000 after acquiring an additional 106,040 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 121,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,231,000 after purchasing an additional 7,657 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $10,360,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 60,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 7,588 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.