Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.04), Zacks reports. Graphic Packaging had a return on equity of 28.26% and a net margin of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Graphic Packaging updated its FY 2025 guidance to 2.480-2.730 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $2.53-2.78 EPS.

Graphic Packaging Price Performance

NYSE GPK opened at $26.75 on Thursday. Graphic Packaging has a twelve month low of $23.47 and a twelve month high of $30.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.63.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. This is a boost from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Graphic Packaging’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Insider Activity at Graphic Packaging

In other Graphic Packaging news, CAO Charles D. Lischer sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.65, for a total value of $355,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 49,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,478,022.85. This represents a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GPK. Truist Financial increased their price target on Graphic Packaging from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graphic Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.70.

About Graphic Packaging

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.