Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 106,045 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,615,539 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 106,045 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $106,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $328,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter valued at $289,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 14.5% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,331 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 74.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 500,312 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,804,000 after purchasing an additional 213,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth $11,079,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

GPK opened at $29.49 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $21.25 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GPK. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.