Swiss National Bank Decreases Stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 599,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $17,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 17,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 3,918 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 36.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 18,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 4,809 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth about $454,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 169,693 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,021,000 after purchasing an additional 35,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. The trade was a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of GPK opened at $28.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.73. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.34. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1 year low of $22.12 and a 1 year high of $30.70.

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 net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

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

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.