State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Increases Position in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 13.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 246,930 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,494 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $6,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPK. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth about $216,432,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 70.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,911,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,493,702 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,690,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $171,122,000 after acquiring an additional 4,111,129 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 125.0% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,372,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,444,000 after acquiring an additional 3,540,822 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth $64,806,000. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:GPK opened at $23.28 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.17. The company has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 52-week low of $19.46 and a 52-week high of $27.56.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $2.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 37.35% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 17.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GPK shares. StockNews.com began coverage on Graphic Packaging in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Bank of America lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Graphic Packaging from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $26.00 in a report on Thursday, June 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.44.

Graphic Packaging Profile

Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based packaging solutions to food, beverage, foodservice, and other consumer products companies. It operates through three segments: Paperboard Mills, Americas Paperboard Packaging, and Europe Paperboard Packaging. The company offers coated unbleached kraft (CUK), coated recycled paperboard (CRB), and solid bleached sulfate paperboard (SBS) to various paperboard packaging converters and brokers; and paperboard packaging products, such as folding cartons, cups, lids, and food containers primarily to consumer packaged goods, quick-service restaurants, and foodservice companies; and barrier packaging products that protect against moisture, hot and cold temperature, grease, oil, oxygen, sunlight, insects, and other potential product-damaging factors.