Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $93.36 Million Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,596,150 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 142,928 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.19% of Graphic Packaging worth $93,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 920.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,176,187 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $113,425,000 after acquiring an additional 3,767,011 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter valued at $98,268,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 735.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,446,843 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $66,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,925 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $449,652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,295 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter valued at $25,669,000. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $26.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Graphic Packaging in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Graphic Packaging from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.40.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:GPK traded up $0.31 on Tuesday, hitting $22.07. 2,996,768 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,609,238. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.71. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 52 week low of $20.86 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.88. The company's 50-day moving average price is $22.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.92.

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

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.46%.

Graphic Packaging announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in 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 often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Graphic Packaging

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.