Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $182.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $172.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Packaging Co. of America has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $171.29.

Packaging Co. of America Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:PKG opened at $179.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Packaging Co. of America has a fifty-two week low of $122.20 and a fifty-two week high of $191.27.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.30. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Packaging Co. of America’s payout ratio is 58.96%.

Insider Activity at Packaging Co. of America

In related news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.51, for a total value of $1,825,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,454 shares in the company, valued at $8,478,319.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Packaging Co. of America news, CFO Robert P. Mundy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.51, for a total transaction of $1,825,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,454 shares in the company, valued at $8,478,319.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total transaction of $2,507,681.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 187,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,975,365.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,041 shares of company stock worth $6,799,177. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Packaging Co. of America

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 14.3% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America during the first quarter worth $530,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 446.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 73,398 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,929,000 after purchasing an additional 59,967 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1.8% during the first quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 4,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $932,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America during the first quarter worth $905,000. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Packaging Co. of America Company Profile

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.