JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 787,266 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 787,266 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 3.54% of Graphic Packaging worth $313,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 37,358 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 2nd quarter valued at $928,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 707,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,949,000 after buying an additional 136,342 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 26.1% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $816,000 after acquiring an additional 5,699 shares during the period. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the second quarter valued at $524,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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, StockNews.com cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $27.45 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.92 and a 200 day moving average of $28.57. The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12-month low of $23.47 and a 12-month high of $30.70. 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 posted its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 1.46%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.09%.

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.