Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Shares Sold by Advisor Resource Council

Advisor Resource Council lessened its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 53.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 20,134 shares during the quarter. Advisor Resource Council’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,110,000. Greenlight Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Greenlight Capital Inc. now owns 2,536,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,515,000 after buying an additional 614,490 shares during the period. Harber Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,412,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,196,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,004,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,767,000 after buying an additional 61,698 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE:GPK opened at $25.67 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12 month low of $20.07 and a 12 month high of $29.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 0.85.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 7.36%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.