Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,183 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,725,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $807,340,000 after purchasing an additional 145,209 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $449,652,000 after buying an additional 1,206,295 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,503,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $441,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702,764 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,957,000 after acquiring an additional 787,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,799,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,178,000 after acquiring an additional 302,168 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.37.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Graphic Packaging stock opened at $24.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.34, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1 year low of $23.03 and a 1 year high of $30.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.51.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 15th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

Graphic Packaging Profile

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.