Packaging Corp. of America jumps as Q1 results and upbeat demand commentary lift sentiment

Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) is up 7.7% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move higher appears tied to the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings release and follow-through from management’s commentary around strong corrugated demand and improving mix. Investors also seemed to focus on earnings performance versus the company’s own guidance and signs that pricing actions should start to show up more meaningfully in coming quarters.

Details:

The company posted first-quarter 2026 net sales of about $2.4 billion and net income of about $171 million, with EPS of $1.91 and EPS excluding special items of $2.40.

Management said legacy corrugated operations delivered a first-quarter record for shipments per day, with shipments per day up year over year.

The company said the EPS excluding special items outcome was above its prior first-quarter guidance, citing factors such as volume/mix and operating costs, partially offset by items like freight and integration-related headwinds in acquired operations.

Looking into the second quarter, the company indicated expectations for strong packaging demand and higher prices as previously announced price increases are implemented, though maintenance outages at several mills are expected to raise outage expense.

Sources:

Packaging Corporation of America (Investor Relations), Packaging Dive, MarketBeat

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$PKG Insider Trading Activity

$PKG insiders have traded $PKG stock on the open market 1 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 1 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $PKG stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

THOMAS A HASSFURTHER (President) sold 12,129 shares for an estimated $2,795,734

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

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$PKG Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 362 institutional investors add shares of $PKG stock to their portfolio, and 426 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 1,066,681 shares (-75.5%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $219,981,622
DIAMANT ASSET MANAGEMENT, INC. added 888,936 shares (+19710.3%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $188,649,997
VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC added 521,352 shares (+29.2%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $107,518,422
SELECT EQUITY GROUP, L.P. removed 510,236 shares (-51.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $105,225,970
BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT L.P. added 492,410 shares (+100.3%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $101,549,714
FIL LTD added 453,319 shares (+19.4%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $93,487,977
QUBE RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGIES LTD removed 365,113 shares (-39.5%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $75,297,253

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$PKG Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $PKG stock 4 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 2 have been purchases and 2 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $PKG stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE APRIL MCCLAIN DELANEY has traded it 2 times. They made 2 purchases worth up to $30,000 on 03/20, 03/17 and 0 sales.
REPRESENTATIVE JULIE JOHNSON has traded it 2 times. They made 0 purchases and 2 sales worth up to $30,000 on 12/18, 11/13.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard.

$PKG Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $PKG in the last several months. We have seen 1 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Truist Securities issued a "Buy" rating on 01/06/2026

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $PKG, check out Quiver Quantitative's $PKG forecast page.

$PKG Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $PKG recently. We have seen 6 analysts offer price targets for $PKG in the last 6 months, with a median target of $225.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Michael Roxland from Truist Securities set a target price of $260.0 on 04/21/2026
Anthony Pettinari from Citigroup set a target price of $217.0 on 04/14/2026
Anojja Shah from UBS set a target price of $225.0 on 04/10/2026
Gabe Hajde from Wells Fargo set a target price of $226.0 on 04/07/2026
Hillary Cacanando from Deutsche Bank set a target price of $225.0 on 04/01/2026
Detlef Winckelmann from JP Morgan set a target price of $245.0 on 12/05/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.