New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 34,074 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 34,074 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.07% of Graphic Packaging worth $5,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GPK. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,817,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,359 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 3.4% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,084,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,281,000 after buying an additional 169,395 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Graphic Packaging during the third quarter worth about $883,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 248.3% during the 3rd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 32,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 22,832 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,358,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,834,000 after acquiring an additional 335,750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GPK shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.13.

Graphic Packaging Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GPK opened at $27.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $20.07 and a one year high of $29.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.86.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.36% and a return on equity of 32.55%. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 18.10%.

Insider Activity

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $1,834,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,377,052.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Graphic Packaging Company 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.