Bank of America Lowers Greif (NYSE:GEF) Price Target to $73.00

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Bank of America from $79.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.13% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on GEF. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.33.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $61.28. 45,043 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 170,515. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.11. Greif has a twelve month low of $55.95 and a twelve month high of $73.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Greif’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Greif will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $69.14 per share, with a total value of $74,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,426 shares in the company, valued at $11,437,553.64. This trade represents a 0.65 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director B Andrew Rose acquired 3,500 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.20 per share, with a total value of $245,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $245,700. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Greif by 59.2% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 753,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,321,000 after acquiring an additional 280,330 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Greif by 17.6% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,053,000 after buying an additional 80,754 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Greif during the second quarter valued at about $4,012,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Greif by 16.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 372,040 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,381,000 after buying an additional 53,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Greif by 450.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after buying an additional 46,176 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.