Hodges Capital Management Inc. Sells 433,980 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company $GPK

Key Points

• Hodges Capital Management Inc. has significantly reduced its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company by 80.3%, now holding 106,664 shares after selling 433,980 shares in Q1.
• Graphic Packaging recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, with a total annualized yield of 2.1%.
• Despite recent sales from insiders, institutional investors hold 99.67% of the company’s stock, indicating strong institutional interest in Graphic Packaging.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 80.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 106,664 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 433,980 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $2,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 1,004.9% during 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. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 11.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,488,501 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $479,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932,841 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 11,000.0% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,299,806 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $33,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288,096 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 14.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,890,782 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $204,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,655,111 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $795,807,000 after purchasing an additional 929,764 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 11th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Graphic Packaging in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other news, 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 value of $681,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 255,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,798,212.16. This trade represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $738,759.84. The trade was a 62.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 93,752 shares of company stock worth $2,073,663. Corporate insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE GPK traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,281,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,396. The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a P/E/G ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.20. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a twelve month low of $19.87 and a twelve month high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $2.13 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 21.13% and a net margin of 6.18%. Graphic Packaging has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.900-2.20 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.