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

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its position in Greif by 71.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 80.5% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the second quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Greif by 162,700.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Greif Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of GEF opened at $62.03 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.91. Greif has a 52 week low of $55.95 and a 52 week high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.14). Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. On average, analysts predict that Greif will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.45%.

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.