Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Receives $75.80 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Key Points

• Greif, Inc. has received an average brokerage rating of "Hold" from six research firms, with one sell rating, three hold ratings, and two buy ratings.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.56 per share, representing an annual yield of 3.7%.
• Greif reported earnings of $1.03 per share in its latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 2.6% year-over-year decline in revenue.

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $75.80.

A number of analysts have commented on GEF shares. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Greif from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other Greif news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $68,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,934,631.76. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 19,248 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $1,347,360.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,216 shares in the company, valued at $5,475,120. This trade represents a 19.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,741 shares of company stock worth $4,596,852. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $608,000. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Greif by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,504 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,897,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Greif by 217.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,706 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 14,193 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Greif by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 596,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $32,805,000 after acquiring an additional 27,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Greif during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,167,000. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Greif Stock Down 1.4%

Greif stock traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $59.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 417,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,870. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.41. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $64.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.05. Greif has a 12 month low of $48.23 and a 12 month high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $740.23 million. Greif had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif's payout ratio is 71.11%.

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.