Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Short Interest Update

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,960,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the March 15th total of 13,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,910,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on GPK. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.44.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,377,052.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graphic Packaging

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graphic Packaging during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new position in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Graphic Packaging during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 870.7% during the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $27.08 on Thursday. Graphic Packaging has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $29.50. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.66.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 35.66% and a net margin of 7.67%. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.02%.

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.