Quest Partners LLC Takes $794,000 Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 26,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 546.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 46.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 2nd quarter valued at $88,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GPK shares. Truist Financial lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $750,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. This represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 1.0 %

GPK opened at $28.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12-month low of $22.12 and a 12-month high of $30.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.34.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

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.