Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $478,000 in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 17,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 64,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 33,493 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,021,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,734,000 after acquiring an additional 13,175 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in 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 worth $313,957,000 after acquiring an additional 787,266 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter worth $51,642,000. Finally, Advocate Group LLC raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 226,399 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,149,000 after purchasing an additional 28,703 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of GPK opened at $25.35 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 1 year low of $24.50 and a 1 year high of $30.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GPK shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.37.

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.