Federated Hermes Inc. Decreases Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,944 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 11,534 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.05% of Graphic Packaging worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,600,941 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $396,562,000 after acquiring an additional 788,066 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 8.2% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,351,192 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $268,717,000 after purchasing an additional 781,509 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 1,004.9% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,240,697 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $239,888,000 after purchasing an additional 8,404,340 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,872,765 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $186,666,000 after buying an additional 414,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 5,824,872 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $158,204,000 after buying an additional 418,013 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Graphic Packaging in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.38.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of GPK stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.78. 879,630 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,054,229. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.23. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a fifty-two week low of $20.86 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.02. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 21.13% and a net margin of 6.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Equities analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.86%.

Graphic Packaging announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 23.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 56,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total transaction of $1,239,136.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,826 shares in the company, valued at $738,759.84. This represents a 62.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Graphic Packaging Profile

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.