88,229 Greif, Inc. $GEF Shares Sold by Private Management Group Inc.

Private Management Group Inc. decreased its position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 57.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 88,229 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Greif worth $5,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lifted its position in Greif by 268.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 1,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 947 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Greif during the 3rd quarter valued at about $229,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the second quarter valued at about $218,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the third quarter valued at about $254,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 21.3% in the second quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 4,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GEF. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Greif from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America lowered Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Greif currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.20.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $163,640.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 51,832 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,894.24. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.67, for a total value of $109,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $827,898.83. This trade represents a 11.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 5,000 shares of company stock worth $439,590 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.70% of the company’s stock.

Greif Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE GEF opened at $72.90 on Wednesday. Greif, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.01 and a 1 year high of $90.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.40 and a 200 day moving average of $74.70.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 5.91%. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.98%.

About Greif

Greif, Inc. is a global industrial packaging company that makes products used to store and transport goods. Its offerings include steel, plastic and fiber drums, intermediate bulk containers, jerrycans and other rigid packaging, as well as reconditioned containers and related services. The company also provides packaging accessories and services such as container filling, supply-chain support and packaging design. Greif serves customers in industries including chemicals, food and beverage, petroleum and pharmaceuticals.