Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.10 Million Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 84.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,362 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,458 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC's holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $605,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 9.6% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 3,441,614 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $101,545,000 after purchasing an additional 302,680 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,642,000. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

NYSE:GPK traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.73. 1,485,463 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,450,375. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $23.47 and a one year high of $30.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.84. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $27.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. This is an increase from Graphic Packaging's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging 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.