American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 1,206,295 Shares of Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,555,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,206,295 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Graphic Packaging worth $449,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 64,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after purchasing an additional 33,493 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,021,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,734,000 after purchasing an additional 13,175 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 8.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,610,233 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $313,957,000 after purchasing an additional 787,266 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Graphic Packaging during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,642,000. Finally, Advocate Group LLC increased its position in shares of Graphic Packaging by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 226,399 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,149,000 after purchasing an additional 28,703 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

Shares of GPK stock opened at $25.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.18. Graphic Packaging Holding has a one year low of $25.13 and a one year high of $30.70.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 25.96% and a net margin of 7.47%. Graphic Packaging’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Graphic Packaging Holding will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GPK shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.70.

Graphic Packaging 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.