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

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Greif from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (down from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Greif from $75.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Greif Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GEF opened at $54.89 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.27. Greif has a 1 year low of $53.43 and a 1 year high of $73.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.84%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 61.71%.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other news, Director Frank Calhoun V. Miller purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.50 per share, for a total transaction of $58,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,037.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,729 shares in the company, valued at $1,970,613.09. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the fourth quarter worth $46,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Greif by 7,222.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 233,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,264,000 after acquiring an additional 230,183 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,473,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Greif during the fourth quarter worth about $4,219,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Greif by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 298,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,229,000 after purchasing an additional 60,313 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.