18,092 Shares in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 64,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after acquiring an additional 33,493 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,021,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,734,000 after buying an additional 13,175 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth $51,642,000. Finally, Advocate Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 226,399 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,149,000 after buying an additional 28,703 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GPK shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.37.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.0 %

GPK stock opened at $26.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $24.50 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

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.