Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $215.40.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PKG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Packaging Corporation of America from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Packaging Corporation of America from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Packaging Corporation of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $245.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $239.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $197.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PKG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 108.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,363,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $468,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,219 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Packaging Corporation of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $225,478,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Packaging Corporation of America by 46.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,038,859 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $601,755,000 after purchasing an additional 964,085 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 70.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,860,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $350,539,000 after purchasing an additional 769,806 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 25,461.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 621,387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,047,000 after purchasing an additional 618,956 shares during the period. 89.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Packaging Corporation of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PKG opened at $218.04 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $200.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.85. Packaging Corporation of America has a one year low of $172.71 and a one year high of $250.82.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.04. Packaging Corporation of America had a net margin of 10.47% and a return on equity of 20.08%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Packaging Corporation of America has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.800-2.800 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Corporation of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Packaging Corporation of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.90%.

About Packaging Corporation of America

Packaging Corporation of America engages in the production of container products. It operates through the following segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers a variety of corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers.