Advisor Resource Council Takes $1.17 Million Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 44,984 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,168,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPK. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 920.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,176,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,425,000 after acquiring an additional 3,767,011 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,268,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 735.3% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,446,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $66,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,925 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $449,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,669,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of GPK opened at $21.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.55. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12-month low of $20.86 and a 12-month high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 23.68% and a net margin of 7.15%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 21.46%.

Graphic Packaging declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 23.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.40.

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.