Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

SW has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.73.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $42.39 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $52.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 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, analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stance Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $1,503,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 10,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 8,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at $53,969,000. 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.