Eagle Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 823,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,727 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.27% of Graphic Packaging worth $15,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPK. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Covestor Ltd acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth approximately $140,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. 94.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 18th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 29th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $24.50 to $25.50 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $24.32.

NYSE:GPK opened at $20.35 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $16.94 and a twelve month high of $22.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.07.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.10. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 22.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 36.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.29%.

About Graphic Packaging (Get Rating)

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. It operates through three segments: Paperboard Mills, Americas Paperboard Packaging, and Europe Paperboard Packaging. The company offers coated unbleached kraft (CUK), coated recycled paperboard (CRB), and solid bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS) to various paperboard packaging converters and brokers; and paperboard packaging products, such as folding cartons, cups, lids, and food containers primarily to consumer packaged goods, quick-service restaurants, and foodservice companies; and barrier packaging products that protect against moisture, hot and cold temperature, grease, oil, oxygen, sunlight, insects, and other potential product-damaging factors.

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