Howard Capital Management Group LLC Purchases 13,175 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,021,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,175 shares during the period. Graphic Packaging makes up 1.9% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Graphic Packaging worth $27,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 761,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,969,000 after acquiring an additional 12,873 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 54,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 40,857 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 32,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 5,062 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 268.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 37,358 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Graphic Packaging stock opened at $28.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.61. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52-week low of $23.47 and a 52-week high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction 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 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.