Xponance Inc. Reduces Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Xponance Inc. lowered its position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 54,401 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,504 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $1,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. FMR LLC boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 67.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,133,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,785,000 after buying an additional 4,074,508 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 102.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,928,197 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,480,000 after purchasing an additional 2,498,942 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 7,530,507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $167,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,914 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,817,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,166,000 after buying an additional 1,354,359 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,495,296 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,875,000 after buying an additional 1,237,180 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.44.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $1,834,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,377,052.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.2 %

Graphic Packaging stock opened at $27.41 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $27.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.84. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1-year low of $20.07 and a 1-year high of $29.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.67% and a return on equity of 35.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders 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 1.46%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.