Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,968 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.
Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $437,945,000 after buying an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $605,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,642,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Graphic Packaging by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter valued at about $11,079,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.
Graphic Packaging Stock Performance
Shares of GPK stock opened at $27.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12-month low of $23.47 and a 12-month high of $30.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $28.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.65. The company has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.85.
Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. Analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.09%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.37.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Graphic Packaging
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,022.85. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,348,943.74. This represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.
Graphic Packaging Profile
(Free Report)
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.
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