Guidance Capital Inc. Makes New Investment in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG)

Guidance Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PKG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America during the 4th quarter valued at $163,314,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 175.3% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 438,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,401,000 after buying an additional 279,059 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1,133.4% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 250,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,850,000 after buying an additional 230,422 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 783,619 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $127,659,000 after purchasing an additional 189,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Packaging Co. of America by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 968,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $157,836,000 after purchasing an additional 162,420 shares in the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $191.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $182.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $187.00 to $191.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.29.

Packaging Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PKG traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $182.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,044,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 483,097. Packaging Co. of America has a 12 month low of $127.69 and a 12 month high of $191.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $16.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.43.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.09. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 18.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Packaging Co. of America news, Director Karen E. Gowland purchased 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $182.06 per share, with a total value of $54,618.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $166,766.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Packaging Co. of America Profile

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.