Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 677,239 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company $GPK

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company by 7.5%, selling 677,239 shares, and now holds approximately 2.77% of the company's stock valued at $217 million.
• Graphic Packaging reported earnings of $0.42 per share, above analysts' expectations, and has a $1.50 billion stock buyback program authorized by its Board of Directors.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 1.9%, while maintaining a payout ratio of 24.86%.

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,362,586 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 677,239 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 2.77% of Graphic Packaging worth $217,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 470.4% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,379 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 15,157 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,872,765 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $186,666,000 after purchasing an additional 414,109 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 169,136 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,594,000 after purchasing an additional 14,078 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 257.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 17,471 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 12,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 40,164 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Graphic Packaging in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.38.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 56,737 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total value of $1,239,136.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $738,759.84. The trade was a 62.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.7%

GPK traded down $0.1550 during trading on Monday, hitting $22.8850. The company's stock had a trading volume of 532,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,084,322. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a twelve month low of $20.86 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $22.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 0.73.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.02. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 21.13% and a net margin of 6.18%.The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Graphic Packaging has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.900-2.20 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is 24.86%.

Graphic Packaging announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 23.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.