Legal & General Group Plc Sells 39,550 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 482,161 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 39,550 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.16% of Graphic Packaging worth $13,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,725,347 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $807,340,000 after buying an additional 145,209 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $449,652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,295 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,503,189 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $441,990,000 after buying an additional 1,702,764 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $313,957,000 after buying an additional 787,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,799,090 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $128,178,000 after acquiring an additional 302,168 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GPK traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $24.65. 210,597 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,422,056. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $23.03 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $25.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.50.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.37.

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.