FORA Capital LLC Increases Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company $GPK

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC significantly increased its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company by 122.4% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 17,440 shares worth approximately $823,000.
• Graphic Packaging recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.11, representing a 2.0% dividend yield, with the payout scheduled for October 5th.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for Graphic Packaging, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.38, while several firms have recently adjusted their price targets downward.

FORA Capital LLC increased its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 122.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,691 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 17,440 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 75.3% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 50,534 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 21,708 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 221,927 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,761,000 after acquiring an additional 6,623 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 35,155 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 98,889 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,567,000 after acquiring an additional 18,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 790,496 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,521,000 after acquiring an additional 140,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. BNP Paribas Exane cut Graphic Packaging from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. 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 objective for the company. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 56,737 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total value of $1,239,136.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $738,759.84. The trade was a 62.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 30,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total transaction of $681,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 255,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,798,212.16. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,752 shares of company stock worth $2,073,663 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE GPK traded up $0.06 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.25. The stock had a trading volume of 3,335,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,302,010. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.43. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a one year low of $20.86 and a one year high of $30.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 0.76.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 6.18% and a return on equity of 21.13%. Graphic Packaging has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.900-2.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is currently 24.86%.

Graphic Packaging Company 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.