Graphic Packaging Holding Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 (NYSE:GPK)

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 16th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, January 5th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th.

Graphic Packaging has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Graphic Packaging has a payout ratio of 14.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Graphic Packaging to earn $2.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.4%.

Graphic Packaging Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GPK opened at $22.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.02, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.46. Graphic Packaging has a one year low of $20.07 and a one year high of $27.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.29.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.47 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 35.97% and a net margin of 7.14%. Graphic Packaging’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graphic Packaging will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on GPK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Graphic Packaging in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on Graphic Packaging from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. Bank of America raised Graphic Packaging from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Graphic Packaging from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $26.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

Institutional Trading of Graphic Packaging

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 114.5% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 265,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,910,000 after purchasing an additional 34,516 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 485,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 48,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 4,768 shares during the period. Finally, Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging in the 2nd quarter valued at about $322,000. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Company Profile

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. It operates through three segments: Paperboard Mills, Americas Paperboard Packaging, and Europe Paperboard Packaging. The company offers coated unbleached kraft (CUK), coated recycled paperboard (CRB), and solid bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS) to various paperboard packaging converters and brokers; and paperboard packaging products, such as folding cartons, cups, lids, and food containers primarily to consumer packaged goods, quick-service restaurants, and foodservice companies; and barrier packaging products that protect against moisture, hot and cold temperature, grease, oil, oxygen, sunlight, insects, and other potential product-damaging factors.