Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 106,045 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK - Free Report) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,615,539 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 106,045 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.20% of Graphic Packaging worth $106,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,294,688 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $317,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576,877 shares during 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 purchasing an additional 706,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,054,530 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $158,693,000 after buying an additional 362,509 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $750,841.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GPK. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPK traded down $0.61 on Friday, hitting $26.79. The company had a trading volume of 6,260,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,525,249. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.56. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1-year low of $23.47 and a 1-year high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.09%.

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.