StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Greif (NYSE:GEF)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Greif from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, November 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Greif presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Greif Stock Performance

GEF stock opened at $58.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $68.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.99. Greif has a 1-year low of $57.10 and a 1-year high of $74.22.

Greif (NYSE:GEF – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. Greif had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 25.66%. The business’s revenue was down 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Greif will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greif

In related news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer bought 4,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $78.93 per share, for a total transaction of $319,666.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 95,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,545,865.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Greif news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 4,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $78.93 per share, for a total transaction of $319,666.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 95,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,545,865.86. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 2,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.78 per share, for a total transaction of $167,380.40. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 91,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,029,362.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 11,129 shares of company stock worth $820,413 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pearl River Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the third quarter worth about $265,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Greif in the third quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Greif in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Greif in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,379,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its position in Greif by 50.5% in the second quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 5,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.25% of the company’s stock.

About Greif

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Greif, Inc engages in the production of industrial packaging products and services. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial Packaging, Paper Packaging & Services, and Land Management. The Global Industrial Packaging segment involves the production of industrial packaging products, such as steel, fiber & plastic drums, rigid & flexible intermediate bulk containers, closure systems for industrial packaging products, transit protection products, water bottles, and remanufactured & reconditioned industrial containers.