Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Shares Acquired by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio grew its position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 178,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,325 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $4,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,127,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $574,983,000 after purchasing an additional 566,205 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,105,236 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $302,709,000 after purchasing an additional 377,055 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,681,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $282,540,000 after purchasing an additional 628,663 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 10.3% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,207,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,587 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 67.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,133,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,785,000 after buying an additional 4,074,508 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE:GPK opened at $27.20 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $20.07 and a one year high of $29.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.68.

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

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,377,052.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.