Teacher Retirement System of Texas Lowers Position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its holdings in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) by 35.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,166 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Greif were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 217.9% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,706 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 14,193 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Greif by 15.8% during the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 26,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,438,000 after buying an additional 3,578 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Greif by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,815 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 104.9% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,473,000. 45.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $77.00 price objective (up previously from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Greif from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $74.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Gary R. Martz sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 68,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,698,015.40. This represents a 29.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.12, for a total transaction of $136,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 70,678 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,814,585.36. This represents a 2.75% 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 three months. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Greif Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE GEF traded up $0.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $65.64. The stock had a trading volume of 42,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 178,757. Greif, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.23 and a 12 month high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company's 50-day moving average price is $61.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.11. Greif had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 10.21%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Greif's quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Greif's 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.