SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 13,197 Shares of Greif, Inc. $GEF

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 63.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,197 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Greif were worth $488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Greif by 54.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 366,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,015,000 after buying an additional 128,880 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Greif during the first quarter valued at $3,193,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Greif by 4.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,251,074 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,797,000 after acquiring an additional 55,948 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Greif by 4.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,805,000 after acquiring an additional 27,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Greif by 21.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,522,000 after acquiring an additional 23,422 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 62,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,680. This represents a 3.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $65.49 per share, with a total value of $65,490.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 198,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,996,097.56. This trade represents a 0.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 32,293 shares of company stock worth $2,145,733 and have sold 53,851 shares worth $3,227,003. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Greif Price Performance

GEF opened at $65.04 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.23 and a 52-week high of $72.67.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Greif from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Greif from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Greif presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Greif 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.