Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE: PKG) is a manufacturer of containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company produces linerboard, corrugating medium and finished corrugated containers used to package and transport consumer, industrial, food and agricultural products.

PCA also manufactures specialty packaging products, including retail displays, protective packaging and custom-designed corrugated solutions. Through its Paper segment, the company produces and sells uncoated freesheet paper and related specialty papers for commercial printing, office use, converting and other applications. Its operations include paper mills, corrugated products plants, design centers and recycling facilities.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, PCA serves customers primarily throughout the United States, with additional business involving international markets. The company was formed in 1999 when Tenneco Packaging was separated from Tenneco Inc. and has since expanded its manufacturing and distribution network to support customers across a range of industries.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $228.39 to $232.35
• 50-Day Range: $227.59 to $257.41
• 52-Week Range: $191.50 to $259.98
• Volume: 530,770 shs
• Average Volume: 591,819 shs
• Market Capitalization: $20.36 billion
• P/E Ratio: 29.67
• Dividend Yield: 2.63%
• Price Target: $271.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Packaging Corporation of America Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Packaging Corporation of America scored higher than 89% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 55th out of 231 stocks in the materials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Packaging Corporation of America has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.80, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 6 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Packaging Corporation of America has a consensus price target of $271.00, representing about 18.6% upside from its current price of $228.49.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Packaging Corporation of America has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 28.42%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Packaging Corporation of America are expected to grow by 28.42% in the coming year, from $10.45 to $13.42 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Packaging Corporation of America is 29.67, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.94.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Packaging Corporation of America is 29.67, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Materials sector average P/E ratio of about 25.13.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Packaging Corporation of America has a PEG Ratio of 1.97. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Packaging Corporation of America has a P/B Ratio of 4.47. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.82% of the float of Packaging Corporation of America has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Packaging Corporation of America has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 5.23.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Packaging Corporation of America has recently increased by 25.29%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Packaging Corporation of America pays a meaningful dividend of 2.62%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Packaging Corporation of America does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Packaging Corporation of America is 77.92%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Packaging Corporation of America will have a dividend payout ratio of 44.71% next year. This indicates that Packaging Corporation of America will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.21

News Sentiment

Packaging Corporation of America has a news sentiment score of 0.21. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.45 average news sentiment score of Materials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 7 news articles for Packaging Corporation of America this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

8 people have searched for PKG on MarketBeat in the last 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

4 people have added Packaging Corporation of America to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 300% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Packaging Corporation of America insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $10,196,101.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

1.60% of the stock of Packaging Corporation of America is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

89.78% of the stock of Packaging Corporation of America is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 7/15 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 7/15 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Dividend Payable: 7/15/2026
• Last Earnings: 7/22/2026
• Record date for 10/15 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 10/15 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Today: 10/03/2026
• Dividend Payable: 10/15/2026
• Next Earnings (Confirmed): 10/21/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Materials
• Industry: Containers & Packaging
• Sub-Industry: Paper & Plastic Packaging Products & Materials
• Current Symbol: NYSE:PKG
• CIK: 75677
• Web: www.packagingcorp.com
• Phone: (847) 482-3000
• Fax: 847-482-4545
• Employees: 16,800
• Year Founded: 1959

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Packaging Corporation of America: $271.00
• High Price Target: $320.00
• Low Price Target: $246.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +18.6%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.80
• Research Coverage: 10 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $7.70
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 29.67
• Forward P/E Ratio: 21.87
• P/E Growth: 1.97
• Net Income: $774.10 million
• Net Margins: 7.25%
• Pretax Margin: 9.63%
• Return on Equity: 18.94%
• Return on Assets: 8.10%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.85
• Current Ratio: 2.94
• Quick Ratio: 1.86

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $9.53 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.14
• Cash Flow: $17.09 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 13.37
• Book Value: $51.10 per share
• Price / Book: 4.47

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 89,098,000
• Free Float: 87,672,000
• Market Cap: $20.36 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.75