Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 5,028 Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GEF. First Manhattan CO. LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Greif in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Greif by 67.1% during the second quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Greif by 326.6% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of Greif during the second quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors own 45.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Greif in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $94.00 price target on shares of Greif in a report on Thursday, August 31st.

Greif Trading Down 1.4 %

Greif stock opened at $67.65 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.78. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.99. Greif, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.38 and a 52 week high of $76.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 7.23%. The company’s revenue was down 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 14th. This is an increase from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is 31.23%.

Greif Profile

Greif, Inc engages in the production and sale of industrial packaging products and services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Global Industrial Packaging; Paper Packaging & Services; and Land Management. 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.