Greif’s (GEF) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $65.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $71.00.

GEF has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Greif from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Greif Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GEF opened at $56.49 on Monday. Greif has a 52-week low of $53.43 and a 52-week high of $73.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.52 and a 200 day moving average of $63.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.33). Greif had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.71%.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total transaction of $45,037.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,970,613.09. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director B Andrew Rose purchased 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.20 per share, with a total value of $245,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $245,700. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEF. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in Greif in the fourth quarter worth about $46,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Greif by 7,222.6% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 233,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,264,000 after buying an additional 230,183 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Greif in the fourth quarter worth about $7,473,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Greif in the fourth quarter worth about $4,219,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Greif by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 298,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,229,000 after buying an additional 60,313 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.