Verition Fund Management LLC Boosts Stake in Packaging Corporation of America $PKG

Key Points

• Verition Fund Management boosted its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 44.9% in the fourth quarter, ending with 82,080 shares valued at about $16.9 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive: UBS upgraded PKG to Buy, JPMorgan raised its price target, and the stock now carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $241.83.
• The company reported Q1 earnings of $2.40 per share, beating estimates, and recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share from $1.25, implying a 2.6% yield.

Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG - Free Report) by 44.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,080 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 25,421 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.09% of Packaging Corporation of America worth $16,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC bought a new stake in Packaging Corporation of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,664,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 68,314 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $14,088,000 after acquiring an additional 6,257 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 8.8% during the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 28,244 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,155,000 after acquiring an additional 2,286 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 74,572.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 35,843 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,392,000 after acquiring an additional 35,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 21.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,788,060 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $389,672,000 after acquiring an additional 312,226 shares during the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Packaging Corporation of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $232.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Packaging Corporation of America from $225.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings cut Packaging Corporation of America from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Argus raised Packaging Corporation of America to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Packaging Corporation of America from $234.00 to $226.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Packaging Corporation of America currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.83.

Insider Activity at Packaging Corporation of America

In other news, CEO Mark W. Kowlzan sold 9,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.08, for a total transaction of $2,011,463.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 473,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $102,811,258.80. This represents a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Packaging Corporation of America Trading Up 0.7%

PKG opened at $229.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.81. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $216.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.79. Packaging Corporation of America has a one year low of $184.76 and a one year high of $249.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.07.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.45 billion. Packaging Corporation of America had a return on equity of 19.27% and a net margin of 8.04%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Packaging Corporation of America has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.330-2.330 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.8 EPS 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 dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Packaging Corporation of America's previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Packaging Corporation of America's payout ratio is currently 60.83%.

Packaging Corporation of America 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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