Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $191.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $187.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $182.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Packaging Co. of America presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $173.86.

Packaging Co. of America Price Performance

NYSE:PKG opened at $173.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.78. Packaging Co. of America has a one year low of $122.20 and a one year high of $191.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $181.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Packaging Co. of America news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total transaction of $2,507,681.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 187,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,975,365.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,041 shares of company stock worth $6,799,177 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Packaging Co. of America

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Packaging Co. of America during the 1st quarter worth about $213,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $23,951,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,793 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,394 shares during the last quarter. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Packaging Co. of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 181,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,361,000 after purchasing an additional 11,921 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.78% of the company’s stock.

About Packaging Co. of America

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.