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

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.00.

A number of equities analysts have commented on GEF shares. StockNews.com lowered Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Greif from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Raymond James started coverage on Greif in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, June 17th.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $64.45 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 0.92. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $76.00.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 5.17%. Greif’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Greif will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Greif by 82.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,273 shares during the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Greif by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,819 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Greif in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,943,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 64,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,217,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during 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.