Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer Acquires 1,075 Shares

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

Greif Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GEF opened at $61.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $66.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.53. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.95 and a 52-week high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS 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 given 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sidoti began coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Greif presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP raised 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 buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Greif during the 2nd quarter worth about $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised 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 acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.