Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Price Target Lowered to $54.00 at Barclays

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $56.00 to $54.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.73.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.8%

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $40.18 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.59 and a 200 day moving average of $40.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $21.06 billion, a PE ratio of 30.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 8.3% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 970,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,762,000 after acquiring an additional 74,360 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 42.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,239,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,779,000 after acquiring an additional 372,177 shares in the last quarter. Exane Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 35.4% in the third quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 345,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,703,000 after acquiring an additional 90,233 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $10,360,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180,531 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.