Insider Buying: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Acquires $74,371.00 in Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.61 per share, for a total transaction of $74,371.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 163,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,037,400.11. This represents a 0.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Greif Trading Down 0.9 %

Greif stock opened at $61.26 on Friday. Greif, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.95 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.13.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Greif’s payout ratio is 47.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Greif by 71.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif in the second quarter valued at $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.