Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Increases Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 267,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,503 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned about 0.09% of Graphic Packaging worth $7,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,681,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $282,540,000 after purchasing an additional 628,663 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 102.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,983,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $291,320,000 after purchasing an additional 5,055,359 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,951,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $220,656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,410 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 7,962,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $196,271,000 after purchasing an additional 431,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,128,914 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,832,000 after purchasing an additional 241,245 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of GPK traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $26.94. 2,673,822 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,728,622. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $20.07 and a fifty-two week high of $29.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Graphic Packaging in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.20 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.74.

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.