Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF – Get Rating) SVP Patrick Gerard Mullaney sold 500 shares of Greif stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.65, for a total transaction of $33,825.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $259,978.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Greif Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE GEF opened at $66.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.93. Greif, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.65 and a 52 week high of $72.79. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $68.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Greif (NYSE:GEF – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Greif had a net margin of 5.93% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Greif's revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Greif from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 6th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, September 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Greif from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Greif from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Greif currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $73.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Greif by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC boosted its position in shares of Greif by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter worth approximately $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.04% of the company's stock.

About Greif

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Greif, Inc engages in the production and sale of industrial packaging products and services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Global Industrial Packaging; Paper Packaging & Services; and Land Management. 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.

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