Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in Packaging Corporation of America $PKG

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 491,085 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 43,905 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Packaging Corporation of America were worth $101,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,279,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,326,159,000 after acquiring an additional 51,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,130,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $905,383,000 after acquiring an additional 33,624 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 13.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,085,196 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $672,357,000 after acquiring an additional 370,573 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 2.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,954,605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $426,016,000 after acquiring an additional 55,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 3.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,924,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $419,309,000 after acquiring an additional 63,937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on PKG shares. UBS Group raised shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $232.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $256.00 in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $234.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $225.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.57.

Packaging Corporation of America Price Performance

PKG stock opened at $217.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 3.07 and a quick ratio of 1.88. Packaging Corporation of America has a one year low of $184.76 and a one year high of $249.51. The stock has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.62.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.23. Packaging Corporation of America had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 19.27%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Packaging Corporation of America has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.330-2.330 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Corporation of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Packaging Corporation of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Packaging Corporation of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Packaging Corporation of America

In other news, CEO Mark W. Kowlzan sold 9,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.08, for a total value of $2,011,463.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 473,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,811,258.80. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Packaging Corporation of America

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE: PKG) is a leading North American manufacturer of containerboard and corrugated packaging products. The company produces a range of paper-based packaging solutions including linerboard, corrugating medium, corrugated shipping containers, retail-ready packaging and point-of-purchase displays. In addition to core packaging products, Packaging Corporation of America offers packaging design, testing and supply-chain services intended to optimize protection, cost and sustainability for customers.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, the company operates an integrated network of mills and corrugated manufacturing facilities across the United States and serves customers throughout North America in industries such as e-commerce, grocery and food & beverage, consumer packaged goods and industrial markets.