Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Raised to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $191.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $187.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on PKG. BNP Paribas lowered Packaging Co. of America from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $182.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Packaging Co. of America from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America raised Packaging Co. of America from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $172.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $173.57.

Packaging Co. of America Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:PKG opened at $172.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Packaging Co. of America has a 1-year low of $122.20 and a 1-year high of $191.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.21.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.09. Packaging Co. of America had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 9.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Insider Activity at Packaging Co. of America

In related news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.51, for a total value of $1,825,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,478,319.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Packaging Co. of America news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.51, for a total value of $1,825,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,478,319.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total value of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at $31,967,034. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,041 shares of company stock valued at $6,799,177. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Packaging Co. of America

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 19,323.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 30,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 30,145 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,338,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 60.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 13,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 6,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 75.0% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 15,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

About Packaging Co. of America

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.