Lawrence Hilsheimer Sells 33,851 Shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence Hilsheimer sold 33,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $2,016,842.58. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 66,826 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,493.08. The trade was a 33.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Greif Price Performance

NYSE:GEF opened at $61.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.57. Greif, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.23 and a 1 year high of $73.16.

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

Greif Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Greif in the first quarter worth approximately $608,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,805,000 after buying an additional 27,832 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 131,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,522,000 after buying an additional 23,422 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter worth $1,167,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the first quarter valued at $654,000. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.