Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Receives $233.00 Average PT from Analysts

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $233.00.

PKG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $253.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (down previously from $282.00) on shares of Packaging Co. of America in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Packaging Co. of America

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PKG. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 30.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 115,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,772,000 after purchasing an additional 27,018 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Packaging Co. of America by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,410,000 after acquiring an additional 8,117 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 234.7% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 12.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 10,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Packaging Co. of America by 7.0% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 81,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,634,000 after purchasing an additional 5,361 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

Packaging Co. of America Price Performance

Shares of Packaging Co. of America stock opened at $195.40 on Wednesday. Packaging Co. of America has a twelve month low of $169.00 and a twelve month high of $250.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.95. The firm has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.04.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). Packaging Co. of America had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 9.60%. As a group, research analysts expect that Packaging Co. of America will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Packaging Co. of America’s payout ratio is 55.99%.

About Packaging Co. of America

Packaging Corporation of America engages in the production of container products. It operates through the following segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers a variety of corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers.