Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Stock Price Down 0.6% - What's Next?

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $44.62 and last traded at $44.99. Approximately 707,471 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 4,552,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SW. Citigroup raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.70.

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Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.3 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.26 and a 200-day moving average of $50.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SW. Norges Bank bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $1,300,041,000. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $431,653,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock worth $1,115,996,000 after buying an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.