Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 540 Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 15.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,056 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Greif were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif in the second quarter worth $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position 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 in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Price Performance

GEF opened at $63.37 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.25. Greif, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.95 and a 1 year high of $71.36.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 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 firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Greif, Inc. 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 given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Greif’s payout ratio is 46.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Greif in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

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.