Access Financial Services Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Access Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 599 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $1,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $437,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the 3rd 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. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,642,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $313,957,000 after acquiring an additional 787,266 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,719,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,078,000 after acquiring an additional 428,278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

NYSE:GPK opened at $27.99 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.29 and its 200 day moving average is $28.57. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $23.47 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.37.

Graphic Packaging Company 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.