Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 169,693 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 35,380 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $5,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $437,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 41.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576,877 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 7.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,632,000 after acquiring an additional 706,486 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,054,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $158,693,000 after acquiring an additional 362,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 9.7% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,093,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,082,000 after acquiring an additional 274,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of GPK stock opened at $29.10 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.28. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $21.25 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The company has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.44, a PEG ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GPK shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.