Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) Receives $236.57 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $236.5714.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PKG. UBS Group upgraded shares of Packaging Corporation of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $232.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Packaging Corporation of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $256.00 in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Argus raised Packaging Corporation of America to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Packaging Corporation of America from $227.00 to $217.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Packaging Corporation of America from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Insider Activity

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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $485,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Packaging Corporation of America by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 220,499 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,053,000 after buying an additional 20,016 shares in the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC purchased a new stake in Packaging Corporation of America in the 4th quarter worth $4,664,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Packaging Corporation of America by 119.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,863,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $406,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,894 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Packaging Corporation of America by 25.1% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 46,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,242,000 after acquiring an additional 9,444 shares in the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Packaging Corporation of America Stock Performance

Shares of PKG stock opened at $218.74 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $213.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $214.75. Packaging Corporation of America has a 52 week low of $184.76 and a 52 week high of $249.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.49 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.81.

Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 19.27%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Packaging Corporation of America will post 10.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Corporation of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Packaging Corporation of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Packaging Corporation of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.83%.

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.