Virtu Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 12,143 Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 12,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GPK. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Graphic Packaging by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,115,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576,877 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,800,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $437,945,000 after buying an additional 2,927,344 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 12.6% during 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Graphic Packaging by 7.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,600,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,632,000 after acquiring an additional 706,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 33.2% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,719,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,078,000 after acquiring an additional 428,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE GPK opened at $29.02 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. Graphic Packaging Holding has a 12-month low of $23.47 and a 12-month high of $30.70.

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

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.