Legal & General Group Plc Sells 43,905 Shares of Packaging Corporation of America $PKG

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 43,905 shares and leaving it with 491,085 shares valued at about $101.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with one Strong Buy, six Buy, and three Hold ratings; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a $236.57 price target.
• Packaging Corporation of America beat quarterly EPS estimates with $2.40 per share and also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.50 from $1.25, implying a 2.8% yield.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG - Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 491,085 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 43,905 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.55% of Packaging Corporation of America worth $101,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 105.4% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 140.0% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 156 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Navalign LLC bought a new position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 40.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $234.00 to $226.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $227.00 to $217.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $256.00 in a research report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $225.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $236.57.

Packaging Corporation of America Stock Performance

Shares of PKG stock opened at $217.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $212.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.62. Packaging Corporation of America has a 52 week low of $184.76 and a 52 week high of $249.51.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Packaging Corporation of America had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 19.27%. The company's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Packaging Corporation of America has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.330-2.330 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Corporation of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Packaging Corporation of America's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Packaging Corporation of America's dividend payout ratio is 60.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Packaging Corporation of America

In other news, CEO Mark W. Kowlzan sold 9,266 shares of Packaging Corporation of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.08, for a total value of $2,011,463.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 473,610 shares in the company, valued at $102,811,258.80. This trade represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Packaging Corporation of America Company Profile

Packaging Corporation of America NYSE: PKG is a leading North American manufacturer of containerboard and corrugated packaging products. The company produces a range of paper-based packaging solutions including linerboard, corrugating medium, corrugated shipping containers, retail-ready packaging and point-of-purchase displays. In addition to core packaging products, Packaging Corporation of America offers packaging design, testing and supply-chain services intended to optimize protection, cost and sustainability for customers.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, the company operates an integrated network of mills and corrugated manufacturing facilities across the United States and serves customers throughout North America in industries such as e-commerce, grocery and food & beverage, consumer packaged goods and industrial markets.

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