Insider Buying: Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) VP Purchases 4,000 Shares of Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) VP Gary R. Martz acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $68.98 per share, for a total transaction of $275,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 17,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,173,901.64. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GEF opened at $66.00 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.06. Greif, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.37 and a 1 year high of $76.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.57.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $1.07. The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Greif had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 18.65%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 18th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 15th. Greif’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on GEF shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Greif from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Greif during the fourth quarter valued at $2,943,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Greif by 4.1% in the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP raised its position in shares of Greif by 338.1% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 20,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Greif by 8.1% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the third quarter valued at about $342,000. 45.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.