Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 722 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.6% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 11,163 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 4.1% in the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 194,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,282,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPK has been the topic of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Graphic Packaging from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (down previously from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.88.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE GPK opened at $22.01 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 0.71. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12 month low of $20.86 and a 12 month high of $30.70.

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

Graphic Packaging announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 15th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 21.46%.

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.