Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Stock Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 27.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 423,560 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,825 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $11,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 195.8% during the fourth quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 246,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,685,000 after purchasing an additional 162,934 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,669,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter worth approximately $478,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 91,781 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after acquiring an additional 7,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 836,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,715,000 after acquiring an additional 68,956 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 3.9 %

GPK stock opened at $27.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.39. The stock has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $25.13 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GPK. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.70.

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.