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 decreased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 2.77% of Graphic Packaging worth $217,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 3.6% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,535 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 69.9% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,065 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,770 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,480 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 30,986 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In related news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 7,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.80, for a total transaction of $152,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,479.80. The trade was a 20.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GPK. BNP Paribas Exane cut Graphic Packaging from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $26.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. 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 report on Wednesday, June 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.38.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.6%

GPK stock traded up $0.1340 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.0240. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,052,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,958,616. The firm's 50-day moving average is $22.21 and its 200-day moving average is $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 12 month low of $20.86 and a 12 month high of $30.70. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Graphic Packaging announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 23.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

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

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.