Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $48.20, but opened at $45.62. Smurfit Westrock shares last traded at $47.30, with a volume of 991,043 shares trading hands.

The company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.62). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock’s quarterly revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,051,299,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares during the period. Ruffer LLP acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $196,095,000. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 68.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,962,433 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,853,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444,704 shares during the period. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% in the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329,653 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.6%

The stock has a market cap of $24.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.41.

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.