Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

Several brokerages recently commented on GEF. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GEF. Quarry LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake 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 buying an additional 561 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Stock Down 2.0 %

GEF opened at $62.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.91. Greif has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. On average, research analysts expect that Greif will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current 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. This is an increase from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.96%.

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.