StockNews.com Downgrades Greif (NYSE:GEF) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a hold rating and a $71.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Greif from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $80.50.

Greif Stock Performance

GEF opened at $59.78 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.14. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.92. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year high of $76.00.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 44.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GEF. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 15,169 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter valued at $10,972,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Greif by 203.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,413,000 after buying an additional 91,461 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Greif by 318.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,735,000 after purchasing an additional 101,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $6,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. 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.