Strs Ohio Purchases 4,325 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Strs Ohio increased its position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 178,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,325 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned 0.06% of Graphic Packaging worth $4,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 4.8% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,648 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 3.6% in the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 33,310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Graphic Packaging by 0.9% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 56,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.20, for a total value of $1,834,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 205,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,377,052.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GPK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted 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 downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Graphic Packaging from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.44.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of GPK stock opened at $27.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.12 and its 200 day moving average is $24.68. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $29.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 35.66% and a net margin of 7.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.02%.

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.