Greif (NYSE:GEF) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Greif (NYSE:GEF) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

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

Greif Stock Performance

NYSE:GEF opened at $57.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.57. Greif has a 52-week low of $56.50 and a 52-week high of $76.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.31 and its 200 day moving average is $63.53.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Greif had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 5.17%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Gary R. Martz acquired 1,807 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Greif by 162,700.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in Greif during the 4th quarter valued at about $176,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Greif during the 4th quarter valued at about $192,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Greif during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Greif in the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. 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.