Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.33 EPS

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33), Zacks reports. Smurfit Westrock had a positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $3.64 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,004,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,156,334. The company has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a PE ratio of 277.99 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $53.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.55.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 955.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

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.