Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $256.1429.

PKG has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Packaging Corporation of America from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $232.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $256.00 in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Packaging Corporation of America from $246.00 to $269.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 473,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,811,258.80. The trade was a 1.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PKG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Packaging Corporation of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $237,649,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 223.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,516,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,504,000 after buying an additional 1,047,902 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 19,710.3% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 893,446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,607,000 after buying an additional 888,936 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,309,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $476,270,000 after buying an additional 521,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 983,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $202,769,000 after buying an additional 492,410 shares in the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Packaging Corporation of America Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:PKG opened at $228.46 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $225.98 and its 200 day moving average is $222.02. The stock has a market cap of $20.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.80. Packaging Corporation of America has a 52-week low of $189.03 and a 52-week high of $249.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by $0.23. Packaging Corporation of America had a return on equity of 19.27% and a net margin of 8.04%.The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. Packaging Corporation of America’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Packaging Corporation of America has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.330-2.330 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.46 EPS for the current year.

Packaging Corporation of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Packaging Corporation of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Packaging Corporation of America’s dividend payout ratio is 72.99%.

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.