Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG) currently trades at $93.10 which is about 1.00% higher than the 52-week high of $96.87. The trading volume at ready counter moved to 1.19M shares as compared to 800,038.00 shares average traded volume. The stock failed to get pushed above the $93.62 barrier, the intraday high, after opening at $91.97. Analysts have a consensus target price of $89.00 in the 12-month period. Its market capitalization has now reached to $8.81B.
Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG) was dropped to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. It has earned a consensus Strong buy rating, according to Zacks Investment Research. 1 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, 3 have assigned a hold rating, Zero says it’s a buy and 8 have assigned a strong buy rating to the company.
Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) on January 31, 2017 reported fourth quarter 2016 net income of $111 million, or $1.17 per share and $1.23 per share excluding special items. Fourth quarter net sales were $1.5 billion in 2016 and $1.4 billion in 2015. Full year 2016 earnings were $450 million, or $4.75 per share and $4.88 per share excluding special items. Full year 2016 net sales were $5.78 billion compared to 2015 net sales of $5.74 billion.
Reported earnings include the impact of $.06 per share of special items expense in the fourth quarter of 2016 and $.01 per share of special items expense in 2015. Excluding special items, the $.15 per share increase in fourth quarter 2016 earnings compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 was driven primarily by higher containerboard and corrugated products volume ($.16), higher white paper prices and mix ($.03), lower fiber costs ($.06), and lower annual outage costs ($.09). These items were partially offset by lower containerboard and corrugated products prices and mix ($.04), lower paper volume ($.04), higher costs for labor ($.02) and repairs ($.02), higher expenses for depreciation ($.02) and interest ($.01), and a higher tax rate ($.04).
Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said, “We had an excellent quarter as we quickly integrated our containerboard volume into the TimBar and Columbus Container acquisitions. Our containerboard mill and corrugated products plant volumes were new all-time records while inventories, including our new acquisitions, were flat with year-end 2015 levels. Packaging segment prices, which had been declining throughout the year, moved higher as we began implementing the announced price increases to our containerboard and corrugated products customers throughout the fourth quarter. Our Paper segment also performed exceptionally well, maintaining good cost control during the seasonally slower fourth quarter.”