Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Now Covered by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) in a research report issued on Tuesday. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 26.88% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.91.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 6.7%

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.09. The company has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $749,735,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,057,000 after acquiring an additional 8,596,558 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after buying an additional 8,218,351 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8,132.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,724,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,654,571 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.