Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $45.75, but opened at $48.68. Smurfit Westrock shares last traded at $50.5220, with a volume of 5,625,565 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $63.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.60.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 10.5%

The company has a market cap of $26.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.40 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.15.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.11). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 2.40%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.28%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.