Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Holdings Raised by Access Financial Services Inc.

Access Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,559 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 21.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,817,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,359 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,084,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,281,000 after buying an additional 169,395 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 5,817,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $129,615,000 after buying an additional 950,904 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the 3rd quarter worth about $883,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total transaction of $1,834,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,377,052.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GPK. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.22.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $29.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.09. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $20.07 and a 52 week high of $29.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 35.66% and a net margin of 7.67%. The company’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Graphic Packaging 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.