Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Short Interest Up 11.4% in November

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,080,000 shares, a growth of 11.4% from the November 15th total of 15,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

GPK stock opened at $29.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.58. Graphic Packaging has a 12-month low of $23.47 and a 12-month high of $30.70. The firm has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $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, equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $750,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,348,943.74. The trade was a 24.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graphic Packaging

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,292,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 28.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 408,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,069,000 after purchasing an additional 89,339 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 75.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 48,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,423,000 after buying an additional 20,604 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graphic Packaging in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $414,000. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.