Greif (NYSE:GEF) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

GEF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Greif in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a hold rating and a $71.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Greif from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.50.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $56.72 on Tuesday. Greif has a fifty-two week low of $56.50 and a fifty-two week high of $76.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.57.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Greif had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Greif’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.73%.

Insider Activity

In other Greif news, VP Gary R. Martz bought 1,807 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $68.37 per share, with a total value of $123,544.59. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 23,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,579,347. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Gary R. Martz acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $68.98 per share, for a total transaction of $275,920.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now owns 17,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,173,901.64. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Gary R. Martz bought 1,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $68.37 per share, for a total transaction of $123,544.59. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 23,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,579,347. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 78,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,159,000 after buying an additional 38,229 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,943,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Greif by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 402,383 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,883,000 after purchasing an additional 24,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Greif by 82.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,273 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.