Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.67.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GEF. Sidoti initiated coverage on shares of Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Greif by 71.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in 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 acquired a new stake in Greif in the 2nd quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $60.32 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.51 and its 200 day moving average is $63.14. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. Greif’s payout ratio is 47.79%.

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.