Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Trims Stake in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lessened its position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 344 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Greif were worth $851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Greif by 59.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 753,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,321,000 after purchasing an additional 280,330 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Greif by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,053,000 after acquiring an additional 80,754 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Greif by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 372,040 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,381,000 after acquiring an additional 53,110 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in Greif by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 262,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,061,000 after acquiring an additional 28,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in Greif by 36.5% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 105,513 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,064,000 after purchasing an additional 28,200 shares during the period. 45.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Greif Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Greif stock opened at $67.79 on Friday. Greif, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.95 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.39.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. As a group, research analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. This is an increase from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.96%.

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.