Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Shares Gap Down to $179.29

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $179.29, but opened at $169.70. Packaging Co. of America shares last traded at $172.32, with a volume of 196,219 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PKG. StockNews.com lowered Packaging Co. of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas lowered Packaging Co. of America from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $182.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America raised Packaging Co. of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $172.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Packaging Co. of America from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Packaging Co. of America presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $171.29.

Packaging Co. of America Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 2.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.88.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.09. Packaging Co. of America had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 9.81%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Packaging Co. of America's payout ratio is presently 58.96%.

Insider Transactions at Packaging Co. of America

In other news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total value of $2,466,395.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total value of $2,507,681.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 187,647 shares in the company, valued at $33,975,365.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total value of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,041 shares of company stock worth $6,799,177 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Packaging Co. of America

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PKG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Packaging Co. of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $163,314,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America in the third quarter worth $123,821,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 175.3% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 438,285 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $71,401,000 after purchasing an additional 279,059 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 1,133.4% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 250,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $40,850,000 after acquiring an additional 230,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 31.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 783,619 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $127,659,000 after acquiring an additional 189,401 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.78% of the company's stock.

Packaging Co. of America Company Profile

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.