Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Shares Bought by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 920.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,176,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,767,011 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $113,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 20,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,334 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 338,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,195,000 after buying an additional 64,981 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 4th quarter valued at $98,268,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 405,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,026,000 after buying an additional 16,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Graphic Packaging by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,725,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $807,340,000 after acquiring an additional 145,209 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.37.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.4 %

GPK opened at $26.32 on Thursday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $24.50 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Graphic Packaging’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This is an increase from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Graphic Packaging 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.