Insider Selling: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) EVP Sells 304 Shares of Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 304 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.15, for a total value of $21,021.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,092,733.75. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Greif Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:GEF traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $67.53. 217,362 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 179,381. Greif, Inc. has a one year low of $48.23 and a one year high of $73.16. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $60.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 3.74%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Greif's payout ratio is presently 60.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GEF. Truist Financial cut their target price on Greif from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $77.00 price objective (up from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Greif from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $74.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Greif during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Greif by 104.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. Hedge funds and other 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.