Graphic Packaging’s (GPK) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $35.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

GPK has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $35.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set a buy rating and a $35.20 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $31.15.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $29.08 on Wednesday. Graphic Packaging has a fifty-two week low of $20.07 and a fifty-two week high of $30.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 30.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Graphic Packaging will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.10%.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 86,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $2,422,790.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,123,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,555,816.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 86,374 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $2,422,790.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,123,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,555,816.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 49,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $1,372,697.53. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,909,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,296,266.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graphic Packaging

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GPK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 32,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.4% during the second quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 17,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.8% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 54,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 16,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,420 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Company Profile

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, produces, and sells consumer packaging products to brands in food, beverage, foodservice, household, and other consumer products. It operates through three segments: Paperboard Manufacturing, Americas Paperboard Packaging, and Europe Paperboard Packaging.