Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Short Interest Up 11.4% in November

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,080,000 shares, a growth of 11.4% from the November 15th total of 15,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPK opened at $29.02 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The company has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging has a twelve month low of $23.47 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.58.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. 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 1.38%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graphic Packaging

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPK. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in 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 last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after buying an additional 2,294,688 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,632,000 after buying an additional 706,486 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 33.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,719,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,078,000 after buying an additional 428,278 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.