Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.17.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Greif from $75.00 to $68.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Greif from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Greif from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Greif Trading Up 0.7%

GEF traded up $0.46 during trading on Monday, hitting $64.96. 236,486 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 175,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.95. Greif has a 1 year low of $48.23 and a 1 year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.11. Greif had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Greif's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Greif news, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.75, for a total value of $1,972,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,464 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,408,258. This trade represents a 23.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the first quarter valued at $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 104.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,444 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the period. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Greif in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.