Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,901,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,642,000. Graphic Packaging comprises approximately 1.5% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.63% of Graphic Packaging as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Graphic Packaging by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,460,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $605,416,000 after buying an additional 2,294,688 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,927,344 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 787,266 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 6.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,054,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $158,693,000 after acquiring an additional 362,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in Graphic Packaging by 9.6% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 3,441,614 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,545,000 after purchasing an additional 302,680 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.37.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:GPK opened at $27.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.52. Graphic Packaging Holding has a fifty-two week low of $23.47 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is 17.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of Graphic Packaging 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.