Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Sells 3,139 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) by 20.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,139 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,725,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $807,340,000 after buying an additional 145,209 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% in 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 during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,600,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $396,562,000 after buying an additional 788,066 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,872,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $186,666,000 after buying an additional 414,109 shares during the period. Finally, Eminence Capital LP increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 5,824,872 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $158,204,000 after purchasing an additional 418,013 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Graphic Packaging from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Graphic Packaging in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.88.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Graphic Packaging stock opened at $22.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.88. The stock has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.71. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.86 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 23.68%. The business’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.46%.

Graphic Packaging announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 23.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Graphic Packaging Company 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.