AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 128,880 Shares of Greif, Inc. $GEF

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Greif, Inc. by 54.2%, acquiring an additional 128,880 shares during the first quarter.
• Greif recently declared a $0.56 quarterly dividend, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.54, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.6%.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Greif, with Wells Fargo raising theirs from $72.00 to $76.00, while Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating.

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) by 54.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 366,449 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 128,880 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.77% of Greif worth $20,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the first quarter valued at about $608,000. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Greif by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,504 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Greif by 217.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,706 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,139,000 after buying an additional 14,193 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Greif by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,805,000 after buying an additional 27,832 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Greif during the first quarter worth approximately $1,167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GEF shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Greif from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Greif news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $68,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 100,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,934,631.76. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 19,248 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $1,347,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,216 shares in the company, valued at $5,475,120. This trade represents a 19.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,741 shares of company stock valued at $4,596,852. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Greif Price Performance

NYSE GEF traded down $0.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $61.58. 244,764 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 226,406. Greif, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.23 and a 1-year high of $73.16. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $65.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.22. Greif had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 3.52%.The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Greif's quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This is an increase from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

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.