Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 945,103 Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 945,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,669,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.3% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,007,968 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,969 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter valued at $271,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 27.9% in the third quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 17,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 3,918 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reissued 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of GPK opened at $26.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.99 and a 200 day moving average of $28.30. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52-week low of $25.13 and a 52-week high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

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

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. This is an increase from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.