Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Raises Dividend to $0.54 Per Share

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 27th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

Greif has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years. Greif has a payout ratio of 41.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Greif to earn $5.16 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 41.9%.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEF traded down $1.71 on Thursday, hitting $62.03. The company had a trading volume of 62,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 165,418. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 0.91. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year high of $74.46.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.14). Greif had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Analysts expect that Greif will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GEF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Greif from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Raymond James began coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.50.

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.