Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Shares Sold by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC trimmed its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 904,099 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 198,991 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.30% of Graphic Packaging worth $22,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter worth $377,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 0.9% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 675,100 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,898,388 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $64,576,000 after purchasing an additional 88,144 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging in the third quarter worth $623,000. Finally, Pathstone Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 134.6% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 29,608 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 16,987 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.13.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPK traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,454,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,069,993. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.24. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52 week low of $20.07 and a 52 week high of $29.50.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 32.55% and a net margin of 7.36%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Graphic Packaging's payout ratio is presently 18.10%.

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.