Insider Buying: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Purchases 1,075 Shares of Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 1,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $69.14 per share, with a total value of $74,325.50. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,437,553.64. This represents a 0.65 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $62.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,612. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.11. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.95 and a 52-week high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Greif Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Quarry LP lifted its position in Greif by 71.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Greif in the second quarter worth $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased 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 valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Greif during the second quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Greif by 27,766.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sidoti initiated coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.