Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Boosts Stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,351,192 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 781,509 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 3.43% of Graphic Packaging worth $268,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 75.3% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 50,534 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 21,708 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.1% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 221,927 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,761,000 after buying an additional 6,623 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 35,155 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 194,467 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,282,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 70,831 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,924,000 after buying an additional 17,183 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of GPK traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.44. 3,481,144 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,638,762. The stock has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.71. The stock's 50-day moving average is $22.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.65. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12 month low of $20.86 and a 12 month high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 15th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is 21.46%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GPK. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane cut Graphic Packaging from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.38.

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.