New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 34,074 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 210,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 34,074 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $5,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 870.7% in the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 39.6% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter worth $64,000. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.13.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $27.09 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1 year low of $20.07 and a 1 year high of $29.50. The stock has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.53 and a 200 day moving average of $25.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Graphic Packaging’s revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.10%.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $1,834,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,377,052.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.