Charles D. Lischer Sells 12,000 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Stock

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Graphic Packaging stock opened at $30.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.39. 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 Holding has a 1 year low of $22.12 and a 1 year high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 1.33%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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 given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Institutional Trading of Graphic Packaging

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 546.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Graphic Packaging by 46.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.