Sei Investments Co. Buys 353,663 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,347,771 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 353,663 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $63,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 64,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 33,493 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,021,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,734,000 after acquiring an additional 13,175 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at $51,642,000. Finally, Advocate Group LLC grew its position in Graphic Packaging by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 226,399 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,149,000 after purchasing an additional 28,703 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $25.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.16. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $25.13 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

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.