19,086 Shares in Greif, Inc. $GEF Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,240,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Greif by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 84.9% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 3,215 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Greif by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $565,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. 45.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Greif Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:GEF opened at $60.47 on Friday. Greif, Inc. has a one year low of $48.23 and a one year high of $73.16. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.76.

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

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is presently 71.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Greif from $76.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. Zacks Research cut shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Bank of America lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Insider Activity at Greif

In related news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total transaction of $120,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 64,678 shares in the company, valued at $3,886,501.02. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.