Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Truist Financial Analyst Says

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its target price increased by Truist Financial from $67.00 to $71.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

GEF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sidoti began coverage on Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.33.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF opened at $60.69 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. Greif has a 12-month low of $55.95 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Greif’s payout ratio is 47.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greif

In other news, Director B Andrew Rose bought 3,500 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $70.20 per share, for a total transaction of $245,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $245,700. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.88 per share, with a total value of $37,334.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 162,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,006,809.88. The trade was a 0.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731 in the last 90 days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GEF. Quarry LP lifted its position 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 buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 770.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in Greif by 50.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.