Metis Global Partners LLC Has $534,000 Stock Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,809 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 41.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $317,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576,877 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $437,945,000 after buying an additional 2,927,344 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,632,000 after acquiring an additional 706,486 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,719,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,078,000 after acquiring an additional 428,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in Graphic Packaging by 171.7% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 603,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,631,000 after acquiring an additional 381,112 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GPK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $28.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12-month low of $22.04 and a 12-month high of $30.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.83.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. Graphic Packaging’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.09%.

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.