Insider Buying: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Buys $37,334.00 in Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $67.88 per share, for a total transaction of $37,334.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 162,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,006,809.88. This represents a 0.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Greif Stock Performance

NYSE GEF opened at $61.16 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.12. Greif, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.95 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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 revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Greif by 59.2% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 753,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,321,000 after acquiring an additional 280,330 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Greif by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,053,000 after purchasing an additional 80,754 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,012,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 53,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Greif by 450.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after buying an additional 46,176 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. Truist Financial reiterated 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. Bank of America lowered their price target on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Sidoti began coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, 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.