Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 64.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 116,688 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $1,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $605,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in 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 worth $437,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 41.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $317,549,000 after buying an additional 3,576,877 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,632,000 after buying an additional 706,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Graphic Packaging by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,054,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,693,000 after buying an additional 362,509 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of GPK opened at $30.09 on Friday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $22.49 and a one year high of $30.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market capitalization of $9.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.83.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $750,841.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GPK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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. StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

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.