State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $2,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,681,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $282,540,000 after purchasing an additional 628,663 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 102.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,983,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $291,320,000 after acquiring an additional 5,055,359 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Graphic Packaging by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,951,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $220,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,410 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 7,962,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $196,271,000 after acquiring an additional 431,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,128,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $158,832,000 after purchasing an additional 241,245 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPK shares. StockNews.com upgraded Graphic Packaging from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.43.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

NYSE GPK opened at $25.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62, a P/E/G ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.70. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1-year low of $20.07 and a 1-year high of $29.50.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 18.10%.

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.