Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) Sets New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $31.00 to $30.00. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Graphic Packaging traded as low as $24.50 and last traded at $25.20, with a volume of 170534 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.29.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target 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 issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.37.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graphic Packaging

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 920.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,176,187 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,425,000 after buying an additional 3,767,011 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,268,000. FMR LLC lifted 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 worth $605,416,000 after buying an additional 2,294,688 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 735.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,446,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,456,000 after buying an additional 2,153,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,642,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $7.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

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.