Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SWGet Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 8,878 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 517% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,438 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,459,000 after purchasing an additional 127,665 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $2,412,000. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 369,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,294,000 after purchasing an additional 30,804 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $924,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1,042.7% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 207,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,021,000 after buying an additional 189,276 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.28. 881,956 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,812,060. Smurfit Westrock has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.45.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SWGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 4.96% and a net margin of 1.22%.Smurfit Westrock’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 251.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SW. Truist Financial upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.83.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Smurfit Westrock

Smurfit Westrock Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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