Insider Buying: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Purchases 1,100 Shares of Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.61 per share, with a total value of $74,371.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 163,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,037,400.11. This trade represents a 0.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Greif Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GEF traded up $0.91 on Thursday, reaching $62.07. 81,528 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 171,730. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Greif, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.95 and a 52 week high of $73.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). Greif had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.79%.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Greif by 71.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the second quarter valued at about $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Greif by 80.5% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Greif in the second quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sidoti started coverage on Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.67.

About Greif

Greif, Inc engages in the production and sale of industrial packaging products and services worldwide. The company operates through Global Industrial Packaging; Paper Packaging & Services; and Land Management segments. The Global Industrial Packaging segment produces and sells industrial packaging products, including steel, fiber, and plastic drums; rigid and flexible intermediate bulk containers; closure systems for industrial packaging products; transit protection products; water bottles, and remanufactured and reconditioned industrial containers; and various services, such as container life cycle management, filling, logistics, warehousing, and other packaging services to chemicals, paints and pigments, food and beverage, petroleum, industrial coatings, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mineral product, and other industries.