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

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $61.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.70. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $71.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Greif’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Greif’s payout ratio is 46.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Greif by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 409,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,853,000 after acquiring an additional 15,169 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Greif by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,852 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,943,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Greif by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Greif by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Greif in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,972,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.