Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $106.98 Million Holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 2.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,615,539 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 106,045 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Graphic Packaging were worth $106,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GPK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 32,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in Graphic Packaging by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 38,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in Graphic Packaging by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 17,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Graphic Packaging by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 54,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Graphic Packaging by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 16,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graphic Packaging

In other news, EVP Michael James Farrell sold 25,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.99, for a total transaction of $750,841.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,348,943.74. This trade represents a 24.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,022.85. This trade represents a 19.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

Shares of GPK opened at $26.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.13 and a 200-day moving average of $28.56. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.83. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $23.47 and a one year high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. Graphic Packaging’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, January 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on GPK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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 downgraded shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.53.

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.