12,143 Shares in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Acquired by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 12,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 268.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 37,358 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the second quarter valued at approximately $928,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Graphic Packaging by 23.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 707,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,949,000 after buying an additional 136,342 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 26.1% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $816,000 after acquiring an additional 5,699 shares during the period. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging during the 2nd quarter worth $524,000. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

NYSE GPK opened at $29.02 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.58. The firm has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging Holding has a twelve month low of $23.47 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 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.