Mirova Has $452,000 Stock Holdings in Greif, Inc. $GEF

Key Points

• Mirova reduced its stake in Greif, Inc. by 44.6%, now holding 8,228 shares worth approximately $452,000.
• Wells Fargo raised its price target for Greif shares from $72.00 to $76.00, indicating an "overweight" rating, while Bank of America updated its target to $77.00.
• Insider activity has been notable, with EVP Gary R. Martz selling 29,000 shares worth nearly $2 million, reflecting a 29.84% decrease in his ownership.

Mirova lowered its stake in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) by 44.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,228 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,629 shares during the quarter. Mirova's holdings in Greif were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 4.7% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,251,074 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $68,797,000 after purchasing an additional 55,948 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in Greif during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,279,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 4.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,805,000 after purchasing an additional 27,832 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in Greif by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 310,236 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,962,000 after purchasing an additional 7,684 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 298,237 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,229,000 after purchasing an additional 60,313 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Greif news, EVP Gary R. Martz sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.90, for a total transaction of $1,998,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 68,186 shares in the company, valued at $4,698,015.40. This represents a 29.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kimberly Anne Kellermann sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.88, for a total value of $610,920.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $240,838.24. This represents a 71.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,741 shares of company stock valued at $6,448,252 in the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GEF has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research raised Greif to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (up from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GEF traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $66.26. The stock had a trading volume of 317,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 203,257. The business's fifty day moving average is $66.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.00. Greif, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.23 and a twelve month high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.11. The business 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%.Greif's revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.85%.

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.