Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.33.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Sidoti started coverage on Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America dropped 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.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF opened at $59.64 on Friday. Greif has a 52 week low of $55.95 and a 52 week high of $73.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.04.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Greif will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 47.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total transaction of $45,037.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,729 shares in the company, valued at $1,970,613.09. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.88 per share, for a total transaction of $37,334.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 162,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,006,809.88. The trade was a 0.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP raised its position in Greif by 71.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Greif by 80.5% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Greif by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Greif by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.