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

Truist Financial reissued their hold rating on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $71.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Sidoti assumed coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Greif from $75.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Greif from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Greif has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of Greif stock opened at $56.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.01. Greif has a 1-year low of $53.43 and a 1-year high of $73.16. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.94.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Greif

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GEF. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at $46,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Greif by 7,222.6% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 233,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,264,000 after purchasing an additional 230,183 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at $7,473,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at $4,219,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Greif by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 298,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,229,000 after purchasing an additional 60,313 shares during the period. 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.