Freedom Investment Management Inc. Lowers Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,050 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPK. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 41.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $317,549,000 after buying an additional 3,576,877 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $437,945,000 after acquiring an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,632,000 after buying an additional 706,486 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,719,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,078,000 after buying an additional 428,278 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GPK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.3 %

GPK stock opened at $30.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.41. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12 month low of $22.49 and a 12 month high of $30.70. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. The trade was a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company 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.