Greif (NYSE:GEF) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

by · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on GEF. Bank of America downgraded shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (down from $94.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Greif from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.20.

Read Our Latest Research Report on GEF

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF opened at $73.26 on Friday. Greif has a twelve month low of $57.72 and a twelve month high of $90.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.70.

Greif (NYSE:GEF – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.25). Greif had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 5.91%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 17th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.98%.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $163,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 51,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,894.24. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.67, for a total value of $109,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,549 shares in the company, valued at $827,898.83. This trade represents a 11.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,000 shares of company stock valued at $439,590. 7.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEF. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Greif by 267.0% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 20,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after buying an additional 14,767 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Greif during the third quarter worth about $227,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Greif during the third quarter worth about $254,000. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Greif in the third quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 268.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 1,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

About Greif

(Get Free Report)

Greif, Inc is a global industrial packaging company that makes products used to store and transport goods. Its offerings include steel, plastic and fiber drums, intermediate bulk containers, jerrycans and other rigid packaging, as well as reconditioned containers and related services.

The company also provides packaging accessories and services such as container filling, supply-chain support and packaging design. Greif serves customers in industries including chemicals, food and beverage, petroleum and pharmaceuticals.

Founded in 1877 as a barrel manufacturer, Greif has expanded its operations to serve customers across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

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