Greif (NYSE:GEF) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Greif (NYSE:GEF) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GEF. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Bank of America cut their target price on Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.80.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEF opened at $60.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $65.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.01. Greif has a one year low of $48.23 and a one year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.23 million. Greif had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In related news, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 19,248 shares of Greif stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $1,347,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,475,120. The trade was a 19.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.12, for a total transaction of $136,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 70,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814,585.36. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,741 shares of company stock valued at $4,475,752. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Greif by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 21,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Greif by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Greif by 5.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 104.9% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Greif by 1.4% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 31,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,074,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.