Insider Selling: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) EVP Sells 748 Shares of Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of Greif stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,037.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,970,613.09. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Greif Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of GEF opened at $57.96 on Friday. Greif, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.04. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.23). Greif had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Greif’s payout ratio is 47.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GEF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.33.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 71.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Greif by 50.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 7.0% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.