Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) Declares $1.25 Quarterly Dividend

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 1.25 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%.

Packaging Co. of America has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Packaging Co. of America has a payout ratio of 42.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Packaging Co. of America to earn $11.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.8%.

Packaging Co. of America Price Performance

PKG stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.86. The company had a trading volume of 730,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,792. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $223.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.43. Packaging Co. of America has a 12-month low of $169.00 and a 12-month high of $250.82. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.04). Packaging Co. of America had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 9.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Packaging Co. of America will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Packaging Co. of America from $232.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Packaging Co. of America from $253.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $215.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Packaging Co. of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Vaughn sold 2,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.89, for a total value of $563,247.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,197 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,253.33. The trade was a 20.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Packaging Co. of America

Packaging Corporation of America engages in the production of container products. It operates through the following segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers a variety of corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers.