Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Graphic Packaging Holding (NYSE:GPK) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 21,050,000 shares, a growth of 20.6% from the February 13th total of 17,450,000 shares. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Graphic Packaging

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

Graphic Packaging Stock Performance

NYSE:GPK opened at $25.76 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.96 and its 200 day moving average is $28.22. Graphic Packaging has a fifty-two week low of $25.13 and a fifty-two week high of $30.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.04). Graphic Packaging had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 25.96%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graphic Packaging will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Graphic Packaging Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Graphic Packaging’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Graphic Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Graphic Packaging in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial increased their target price 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 upgraded Graphic Packaging from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Graphic Packaging from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graphic Packaging has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.