Lawrence A. Hilsheimer Buys 1,075 Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $69.14 per share, for a total transaction of $74,325.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,437,553.64. The trade was a 0.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Greif Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GEF stock opened at $61.26 on Friday. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.95 and a 52-week high of $73.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.20 and its 200-day moving average is $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GEF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Sidoti assumed coverage on Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.67.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GEF. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Greif by 80.5% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Greif during the 2nd quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.