Whittier Trust Co. Buys 12,391 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 360,673 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,391 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $9,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GPK. FMR LLC grew its stake in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,503,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $441,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,764 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,799,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,178,000 after buying an additional 302,168 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,738,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,380,000 after buying an additional 29,034 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

GPK opened at $26.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.21. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52-week low of $25.13 and a 52-week high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Graphic Packaging Profile

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.