Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 42,559 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,272 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 42,559 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Graphic Packaging worth $9,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 1,105 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 11,163 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,231 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 24,606 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keynote Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GPK shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.37.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE GPK traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $24.75. The company had a trading volume of 94,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,422,097. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $23.03 and a 52 week high of $30.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. Graphic Packaging's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

About Graphic Packaging

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.