Greif, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.54 (NYSE:GEF)

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

Greif has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years. Greif has a payout ratio of 44.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Greif to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.1%.

Greif Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of GEF stock traded down $1.55 on Thursday, reaching $69.95. 364,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 168,875. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $65.62 and a 200-day moving average of $63.02. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.92. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.23). Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. 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 previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GEF has been the subject of several research reports. Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.40.

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.