Graphic Packaging Holding Company $GPK Holdings Raised by Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,615,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,666 shares during the period. Graphic Packaging comprises 1.5% of Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 4.84% of Graphic Packaging worth $379,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 1,004.9% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,240,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $239,888,000 after buying an additional 8,404,340 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,488,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $479,962,000 after buying an additional 1,932,841 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,890,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $204,844,000 after buying an additional 1,018,017 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 783.7% during the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,059,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,789,000 after buying an additional 940,035 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,655,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $795,807,000 after buying an additional 929,764 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GPK. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.38.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Graphic Packaging stock opened at $22.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.96. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12-month low of $20.86 and a 12-month high of $30.70. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 7.65 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.02. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 6.18% and a return on equity of 21.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 5th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is 24.86%.

Graphic Packaging declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 23.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 7,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.80, for a total value of $152,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 26,811 shares in the company, valued at $584,479.80. This represents a 20.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.