Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $537,000 Position in Greif, Inc. $GEF

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Greif by 1.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 70,662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Greif by 14.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,709 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,923,000 after buying an additional 13,690 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 23.7% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 212,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,707,000 after buying an additional 40,813 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Greif by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 115,167 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,333,000 after acquiring an additional 9,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Greif during the 1st quarter valued at about $608,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Greif from $76.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Greif from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Greif has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Greif Stock Performance

NYSE GEF opened at $57.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.77 and a 200-day moving average of $61.27. Greif, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.23 and a 1-year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.23 million. Greif had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This is a boost from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total transaction of $120,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 64,678 shares in the company, valued at $3,886,501.02. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

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.