Truist Financial Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Greif (NYSE:GEF)

Greif (NYSE:GEF)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $67.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $69.00. Truist Financial’s price target suggests a potential upside of 7.17% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America upgraded Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com lowered Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.00.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEF opened at $62.52 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.74. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.91. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $74.46.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings 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 valued at $43,321,000 after buying an additional 280,330 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the 4th quarter valued at $10,972,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 318.7% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,735,000 after acquiring an additional 101,363 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Greif by 203.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,413,000 after purchasing an additional 91,461 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,053,000 after purchasing an additional 80,754 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.