Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 4,900 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,900 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $2,466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,420 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 161,236 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 29,294 shares during the period. Greenlight Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Greenlight Capital Inc. now owns 2,536,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,515,000 after purchasing an additional 614,490 shares during the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, L1 Capital International Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging in the fourth quarter worth $16,039,000. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPK. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.13.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of GPK stock opened at $27.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $29.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.50.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 32.55%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.10%.

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.