Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Short Interest Update

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 682,600 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the November 30th total of 572,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 190,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at Greif

In related news, Director B Andrew Rose purchased 3,500 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.20 per share, with a total value of $245,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,700. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $69.14 per share, with a total value of $74,325.50. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Greif by 71.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Greif by 80.5% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Greif by 770.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 1,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GEF shares. Sidoti began coverage on shares of Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.67.

Greif Stock Down 0.9 %

GEF traded down $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.26. The company had a trading volume of 201,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 172,389. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year 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 $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.20 and a 200-day moving average of $63.13.

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). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.79%.

Greif Company Profile

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.