Foundry Partners LLC Invests $448,000 in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Greif by 97.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 34,045 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after buying an additional 16,759 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Greif during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,594,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Greif by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 568,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,760,000 after purchasing an additional 44,088 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Greif by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 535,932 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,756,000 after purchasing an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Greif in the third quarter valued at approximately $610,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GEF shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Greif from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Greif from $75.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark A. Emkes purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $55.89 per share, with a total value of $167,670.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,473,523.73. This represents a 7.27 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David C. Lloyd sold 2,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.24, for a total transaction of $125,008.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,580 shares in the company, valued at $418,719.20. The trade was a 22.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of Greif stock opened at $51.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.53. Greif, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.23 and a 52-week high of $73.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.09 and a 200-day moving average of $62.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.33). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 61.71%.

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.