Investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors LP has reduced its stake in Graphic Packaging Holding by 13.1% during the fourth quarter according to its recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The industrial products company’s stock experienced a significant decrease of 1,004,994 shares for this period, bringing the institutional investor’s holdings to 6,673,054 shares with an equivalent value of $148,476,000. Despite the cutback in investment from Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Graphic Packaging had a successful first quarter. One May 2nd it announced that it reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter which far surpassed analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.15 which resulted in a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm also experienced revenue growth with an increase of 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year, totaling $2.44 billion for this quarter alone.
Following their impressive first quarter results – Graphic Packaging has received numerous favorable ratings from various equities research analysts including buy and hold ratings from eight analysts and one strong buy rating on their stock today according to Bloomberg.com data . Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Graphic Packaging from $30 to $31 after reviewing its Q1 earnings report on May 3rd while Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objectives on shares and other overviews from $28 to $30.
Despite some institutional investors selling off portions of their holdings within Graphic Packaging – these cuts didn’t have a negative impact opposed to being propelled towards success with rave reviews following their bullish Q1 earnings report earlier in May.’
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Institutional Investors Show Interest in Graphic Packaging’s Strong Financial Performance and Potential Growth
Graphic Packaging Holding Company, an industrial products company known for its packaging solutions, has been making significant strides in the financial world. Several institutional investors have recently purchased and sold shares of Graphic Packaging’s stock, indicating a potential interest in the company’s growth prospects. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC, Acurrate Wealth Management LLC, Assetmark Inc., Belpointe Asset Management LLC and IFP Advisors Inc. are some of the companies who have invested in Graphic Packaging.
There has also been considerable activity surrounding GPK on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The stock opened at $25.63 on Friday and has a one-year market cap of $7.87 billion. According to reports, eight research analysts have rated Graphic Packaging as a buy stock with an average target price of $28.78.
One notable feature of Graphic Packaging is its quarterly dividend policy, paying shareholders $0.10 per share annually with an impressive dividend payout ratio of 20%. CFO Stephen R. Scherger recently sold 160,492 shares totaling over $4 million while Executive Vice President Joseph P. Yost also sold 60k shares earlier this year for a total transaction amounting to over $1 million.
Despite these sales by top executives within the organization, it seems that investor interest in Global Packaging may continue to increase due to its potential growth trajectory amid ongoing innovations and advancements within their industry sector.
