Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Grows Position in Graphic Packaging Holding Company $GPK

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 276,056 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,475 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $5,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,655,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $795,807,000 after purchasing an additional 929,764 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,488,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $479,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932,841 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 17,636,296 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $385,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264,922 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,351,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $268,717,000 after purchasing an additional 781,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1,004.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,240,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $239,888,000 after purchasing an additional 8,404,340 shares during the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Philip R. Martens sold 7,015 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.80, for a total value of $152,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,811 shares in the company, valued at $584,479.80. The trade was a 20.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph P. Yost sold 30,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total value of $681,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 255,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,798,212.16. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,752 shares of company stock valued at $2,073,663 over the last 90 days. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPK shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Graphic Packaging from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial lowered Graphic Packaging from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of GPK stock opened at $17.57 on Wednesday. Graphic Packaging Holding Company has a 52-week low of $16.94 and a 52-week high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $20.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.91.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.02. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 21.13% and a net margin of 6.18%.The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. Graphic Packaging has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.900-2.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding Company will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 24.86%.

About Graphic Packaging

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.