Insider Selling: Greif (NYSE:GEF) CEO Sells $683,645.92 in Stock

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) CEO Ole Rosgaard sold 9,733 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.24, for a total transaction of $683,645.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,707 shares in the company, valued at $4,545,019.68. This represents a 13.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Greif Price Performance

Greif stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 156,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 195,276. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.95. Greif, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.23 and a 52 week high of $70.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.11%.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in Greif by 30.8% in the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 44,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,653,000 after purchasing an additional 10,444 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Greif by 285.0% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 43,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,606,000 after acquiring an additional 32,274 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Greif by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,473 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 75.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 524,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,352,000 after purchasing an additional 225,659 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 154.3% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 29,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 17,681 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 brokerages have recently issued reports on GEF. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Greif from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Greif from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Greif currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Greif Company Profile

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.