Brokerages Set Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) PT at $31.53

Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.53.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GPK shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $27.45 on Wednesday. Graphic Packaging has a 12 month low of $23.47 and a 12 month high of $30.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.92 and a 200-day moving average of $28.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 787,266 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Graphic Packaging in the third quarter valued at about $2,292,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 28.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 408,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,069,000 after purchasing an additional 89,339 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 75.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 48,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 20,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.