Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Buys 3,503 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 1.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 267,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,503 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $7,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,681,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $282,540,000 after purchasing an additional 628,663 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 5,055,359 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,134,410 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP lifted 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 acquiring an additional 431,818 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 241,245 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

GPK traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,673,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,728,622. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.85. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $29.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.75.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.20 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.