UMB Bank n.a. Purchases 549 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 58.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $41,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth approximately $73,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 57.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 29.0% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,130 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter worth approximately $190,000. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.37.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In other news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,022.85. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $27.31 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1-year low of $23.47 and a 1-year high of $30.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.63.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 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.