CSM Advisors LLC Takes $315,000 Position in Greif, Inc. $GEF

CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,857 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif in the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Greif by 5.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Greif by 17.0% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Greif by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other Greif news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total value of $120,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 64,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,886,501.02. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Greif Stock Up 1.8%

Greif stock opened at $59.89 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.53. 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 company has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. Greif, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.23 and a fifty-two week high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s 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 year.

Greif Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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