Highland Capital Management LLC Invests $271,000 in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 9,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $437,945,000 after acquiring an additional 2,927,344 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,688 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,642,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $313,957,000 after buying an additional 787,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 3rd quarter worth $11,079,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $27.39 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.85. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $23.47 and a one year high of $30.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.65. 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 (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 business 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%. Graphic Packaging’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is 17.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. The trade was a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GPK shares. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.37.

About Graphic Packaging

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.