Graphic Packaging Holding (GPK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.11 on April 5th

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be given a dividend of 0.11 per share by the industrial products company on Saturday, April 5th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

Graphic Packaging has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Graphic Packaging has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Graphic Packaging to earn $2.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.0%.

Graphic Packaging Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE GPK opened at $26.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.62. Graphic Packaging has a fifty-two week low of $23.47 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 28.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graphic Packaging will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GPK shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of Graphic Packaging stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total transaction of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,022.85. The trade was 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 available at this link. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.