Gary Martz, General Council at Greif (GEF), recently bought 15,000 shares across two transactions. The buy increased his holdings by about 17%, and came to a total cost of just over $1,000,000.
The buy comes a month after the company CFO bought 24,725 shares, paying just over $1.64 million to do so. The company CEO was also a buyer in early March, picking up about $329,200 in shares. There have been some smaller insider sales so far this year.
Overall, Greif insiders own 5.1% of shares.
The packaging and container manufacturer is up about 3% over the past year, far lagging the overall stock market. Revenues are off 5%, amid higher costs and a slowdown in consumer spending on goods in the economy.
At current prices, Greif trades for about 11 times forward earnings. An expanding economy in the years ahead could lead to a rebound in the company’s operations and its share price.
Action to take: Investors may like shares at current prices. The stock has started to trend higher in recent weeks but is still well off its 52-week high of $76 per share.
Greif also pays a 3% dividend at current prices.
For traders, the October $70 calls, last trading for about $3.20, could see mid-to-high double-digit returns. Just beware the options are thinly traded.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.