Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SW. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial set a $50.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.18.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $40.95 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.87 and a beta of 0.95. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 251.39%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 187.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.