CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 170,593 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 870,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 170,593 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.29% of Graphic Packaging worth $23,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Graphic Packaging by 735.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,446,843 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $66,456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,925 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 470.4% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,379 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 15,157 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 363.4% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 35,781 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 28,059 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 17,602 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 6,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,582 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,547,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James decreased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.89.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GPK traded down $0.35 on Friday, reaching $24.99. 635,350 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,423,946. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $23.03 and a 52 week high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Graphic Packaging's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

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.