Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $880,000 in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 5,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,429 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 5,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 1,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,793 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 5,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

Packaging Co. of America Stock Performance

NYSE:PKG opened at $171.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.06. Packaging Co. of America has a twelve month low of $122.20 and a twelve month high of $191.27. The company has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.78.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.09. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Packaging Co. of America

In other news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total transaction of $2,507,681.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 187,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,975,365.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,041 shares of company stock worth $6,799,177 over the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PKG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $183.00 to $181.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $172.00 to $202.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $187.00 to $191.00 in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Packaging Co. of America has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $173.57.

Packaging Co. of America 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.