UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Buys New Position in Greif, Inc. $GEF

Key Points

• UniSuper Management Pty Ltd invested $654,000 in Greif, Inc., acquiring 11,899 shares during the first quarter.
• Greif announced a quarterly dividend of $0.56, increasing from the previous $0.54, and representing an annualized yield of 3.6%.
• Analyst ratings on Greif are mixed, with one downgrade to "strong sell" and a consensus price target of $75.80.

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,899 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the first quarter worth $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Greif by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,887 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GEF shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research cut Greif from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.80.

Greif Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Greif stock traded up $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $60.89. 16,991 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 189,103. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Greif, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.23 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a $0.56 dividend. This is a positive change from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Greif's payout ratio is presently 68.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.55, for a total transaction of $121,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 66,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,037,352.90. This represents a 2.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $68,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,934,631.76. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,741 shares of company stock valued at $4,596,852. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.