AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Sells 3,722 Shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its stake in Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,779 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,722 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Packaging Co. of America were worth $18,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Packaging Co. of America by 17.0% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,366,000 after buying an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 460,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,194,000 after acquiring an additional 35,614 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 227.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 32,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,945,000 after purchasing an additional 22,397 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 30.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 115,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,772,000 after purchasing an additional 27,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. 89.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Packaging Co. of America news, SVP Donald R. Shirley sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.20, for a total transaction of $1,921,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,777,145. The trade was a 33.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Vaughn sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.89, for a total value of $563,247.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,252,253.33. This trade represents a 20.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,300 shares of company stock valued at $8,064,152 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Packaging Co. of America Stock Performance

PKG stock opened at $240.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.73. Packaging Co. of America has a 12-month low of $159.57 and a 12-month high of $250.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.15. Packaging Co. of America had a return on equity of 19.10% and a net margin of 9.46%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. Packaging Co. of America’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Packaging Co. of America will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PKG. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Packaging Co. of America from $252.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $235.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $232.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.67.

Packaging Co. of America Company Profile

Packaging Corporation of America engages in the production of container products. It operates through the following segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers a variety of corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers.