Greif (NYSE:GEF) Now Covered by Truist Financial

Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $71.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on GEF. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Greif from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Greif from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $77.25.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEF opened at $60.75 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.90. Greif has a 12 month low of $59.37 and a 12 month high of $76.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.87.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $1.07. Greif had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 18.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Greif will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 18th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 15th. Greif’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Treasurer Anthony John Krabill bought 745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $63.12 per share, with a total value of $47,024.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the treasurer now directly owns 1,651 shares in the company, valued at $104,211.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Treasurer Anthony John Krabill bought 745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $63.12 per share, with a total value of $47,024.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the treasurer now directly owns 1,651 shares in the company, valued at $104,211.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Gary R. Martz bought 1,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $68.37 per share, for a total transaction of $123,544.59. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 23,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,579,347. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 42,934 shares of company stock valued at $2,864,352 and have sold 6,000 shares valued at $384,620. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,943,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Greif by 4.1% in the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Greif by 338.1% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 20,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Greif by 8.1% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the third quarter valued at about $342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.