Lawrence A. Hilsheimer Acquires 550 Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer bought 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.88 per share, for a total transaction of $37,334.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 162,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,006,809.88. This trade represents a 0.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Greif Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GEF traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $60.76. 229,037 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 172,360. Greif, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $66.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.14. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.79%.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEF. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Greif by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 372,040 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,381,000 after purchasing an additional 53,110 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Greif during the third quarter worth about $518,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Greif by 97.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 34,045 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 16,759 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in Greif by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 262,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,061,000 after acquiring an additional 28,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Greif by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 524,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,874,000 after acquiring an additional 44,473 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.