Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $880,000 in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Packaging Co. of America by 19,323.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 30,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,936,000 after acquiring an additional 30,145 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Packaging Co. of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,338,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in Packaging Co. of America by 60.4% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Packaging Co. of America by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 13,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,188,000 after acquiring an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Packaging Co. of America by 75.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 15,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 6,809 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PKG has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $182.00 price objective for the company. in a research note 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 price objective for the stock from $172.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $183.00 to $181.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Packaging Co. of America presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.57.

Packaging Co. of America Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Packaging Co. of America stock opened at $171.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $181.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.06. Packaging Co. of America has a 1 year low of $122.20 and a 1 year high of $191.27. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.78.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.09. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 2.92%. Packaging Co. of America’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Packaging Co. of America

In other Packaging Co. of America news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of Packaging Co. of America stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total value of $2,507,681.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 187,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,975,365.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,967,034. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 187,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,975,365.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,041 shares of company stock valued at $6,799,177. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Packaging Co. of America

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.