Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $27.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $24.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 1.93% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.03.

Graphic Packaging Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Graphic Packaging stock opened at $26.49 on Monday. Graphic Packaging has a 1 year low of $23.47 and a 1 year high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.54.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Graphic Packaging will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Graphic Packaging

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total value of $750,841.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,348,943.74. The trade was a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Graphic Packaging by 41.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,576,877 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $437,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $605,416,000 after buying an additional 2,294,688 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,957,000 after buying an additional 787,266 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $251,632,000 after acquiring an additional 706,486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Company 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.