Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Purchases 6,757 Shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 258,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,757 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Packaging Co. of America were worth $42,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PKG. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Packaging Co. of America by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 12,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,984,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 120.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,071 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America during the first quarter valued at approximately $693,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 3.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 162,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,356,000 after purchasing an additional 4,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Packaging Co. of America by 58.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 24,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,863,000 after buying an additional 9,145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PKG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $182.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Packaging Co. of America currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Packaging Co. of America news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Packaging Co. of America news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.51, for a total transaction of $1,825,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,454 shares in the company, valued at $8,478,319.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,041 shares of company stock worth $6,799,177 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Packaging Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of PKG stock opened at $179.89 on Friday. Packaging Co. of America has a fifty-two week low of $122.20 and a fifty-two week high of $191.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.48.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.30. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.35 EPS. Packaging Co. of America’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Packaging Co. of America’s payout ratio is 58.96%.

Packaging Co. of America Company Profile

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.