Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Position Reduced by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. cut its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,702 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,930 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 38,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.5% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Access Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GPK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GPK stock opened at $26.73 on Monday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12 month low of $23.47 and a 12 month high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.56. The company has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.84.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This is an increase from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.52%.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.