Alberta Investment Management Corp Boosts Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,453 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $3,081,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,503,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $441,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,764 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 9.6% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 3,441,614 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,545,000 after purchasing an additional 302,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter valued at $51,642,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.1 %

GPK opened at $27.03 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1-year low of $24.93 and a 1-year high of $30.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The company has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.51, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.84.

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). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. Graphic Packaging’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GPK shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective 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 upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.70.

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.