Greif (NYSE:GEF) Now Covered by Truist Financial

Research analysts at Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "hold" rating and a $71.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock. Truist Financial's target price points to a potential upside of 16.87% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on GEF. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Greif from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Greif from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.25.

Greif Trading Down 1.6 %

GEF traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $60.75. The stock had a trading volume of 239,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,866. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $64.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.90. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.87. Greif has a 1-year low of $59.37 and a 1-year high of $76.00.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.05, for a total transaction of $126,100.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 62,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,933,815.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Greif news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.05, for a total transaction of $126,100.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 62,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,933,815.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Anthony John Krabill acquired 745 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $63.12 per share, for a total transaction of $47,024.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the treasurer now owns 1,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,211.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 42,934 shares of company stock worth $2,864,352 and sold 6,000 shares worth $384,620. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Greif during the fourth quarter worth $2,943,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Greif by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,445 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Greif by 338.1% in the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 20,733 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Greif by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Greif in the 3rd quarter worth $342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Greif Company Profile

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.