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

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer bought 1,075 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $69.14 per share, for a total transaction of $74,325.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 165,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,437,553.64. This trade represents a 0.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Greif Price Performance

GEF stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.26. The stock had a trading volume of 201,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 172,389. Greif, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.95 and a twelve month high of $73.16. The company's 50-day moving average price is $66.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.12. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Greif's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GEF shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and set a $67.00 target price (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Sidoti initiated coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Greif has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.67.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 753,812 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $43,321,000 after purchasing an additional 280,330 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Greif by 17.6% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,053,000 after buying an additional 80,754 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Greif during the second quarter worth $4,012,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 53,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 46,176 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company's stock.

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.