Bellecapital International Ltd. Takes Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Bellecapital International Ltd. bought a new position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,876 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $437,945,000 after acquiring an additional 2,927,344 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 707,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,949,000 after purchasing an additional 136,342 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the third quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 4.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 24,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 1,138 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GPK. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Graphic Packaging in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.20 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.87.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:GPK traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $29.77. The company had a trading volume of 556,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,601. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $20.07 and a 52 week high of $30.66. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.13.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 30.74%. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, October 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 18.10%.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 49,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $1,372,697.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,909,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,296,266.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 86,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $2,422,790.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,123,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,555,816.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 49,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $1,372,697.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,909,576 shares in the company, valued at $53,296,266.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.