Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer Sells 1,000 Shares

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $68,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,934,631.76. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Greif Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of GEF stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.27. 101,462 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 179,097. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's fifty day moving average is $60.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.58. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.23 and a 52-week high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Greif Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Greif's payout ratio is 60.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Greif by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,459 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Greif by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,013 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Greif by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,280 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Greif during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.