Lawrence Hilsheimer Purchases 8,342 Shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence Hilsheimer bought 8,342 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $67.90 per share, for a total transaction of $566,421.80. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,338,547.60. This trade represents a 4.43% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Greif Price Performance

Greif stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $61.08. 97,516 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 189,424. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. 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 50-day moving average price of $59.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.69. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.23 and a 52-week high of $73.16.

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

Greif Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is an increase from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is 71.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEF. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Greif by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 662 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System bought a new position in Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC purchased a new stake in Greif in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Greif from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Greif from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.20.

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.