Greif (NYSE:GEF) SVP Sells $145,040.00 in Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $145,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 49,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,816.64. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Timothy Bergwall also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 12th, Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $163,640.00.
• On Thursday, September 10th, Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.14, for a total value of $166,280.00.

Greif Trading Down 0.8%

GEF stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $71.91. The company had a trading volume of 62,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,591. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.20 and a 200-day moving average of $74.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Greif, Inc. has a one year low of $59.91 and a one year high of $90.57.

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

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 17th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Greif by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,361,000 after buying an additional 63,843 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Greif by 5.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,099,000 after acquiring an additional 5,071 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 8,322 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 362.2% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,362,000 after acquiring an additional 24,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Greif in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,853,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GEF. Wall Street Zen downgraded Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. 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 research note on Monday, October 19th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.20.

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.