Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,273,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 157,740 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $85,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 79.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 166,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,106,000 after acquiring an additional 8,928 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2,265.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 223,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,514,000 after purchasing an additional 214,230 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,196,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of GPK opened at $29.36 on Thursday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $20.07 and a one year high of $30.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.84.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 30.74% and a net margin of 7.93%. The business’s revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.10%.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 86,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $2,422,790.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,123,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,555,816.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Graphic Packaging news, CEO Michael P. Doss sold 86,374 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $2,422,790.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,123,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,555,816.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,372,697.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,909,576 shares in the company, valued at $53,296,266.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on GPK. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.20 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com raised Graphic Packaging from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.15.

Graphic Packaging Company Profile

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.