Captrust Financial Advisors Lowers Stock Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Captrust Financial Advisors cut its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,486 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 781 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPK. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $228,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 297.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 362,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,720,000 after purchasing an additional 271,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,688 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of Graphic Packaging stock opened at $29.39 on Thursday. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $22.76 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.53. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,348,943.74. This represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.