Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Boosts Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $2,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 64.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter valued at $577,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased 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 purchasing an additional 950,904 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 110.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 9,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.44.

Graphic Packaging Stock Down 0.4 %

Graphic Packaging stock opened at $27.30 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $29.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued 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 business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,834,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,377,052.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.