Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 28.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,138 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 13,902 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,725,347 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $807,340,000 after acquiring an additional 145,209 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $449,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,295 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 5.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,872,765 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $186,666,000 after acquiring 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 acquiring an additional 418,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GPK. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 target price (down previously from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.40.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of GPK stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,874,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,605,611. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.31 and a 200 day moving average of $24.99. The stock has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12-month low of $20.86 and a 12-month high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.14 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 23.68%. The firm's revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase up to 23.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.46%.

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.