Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Receives $76.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

GEF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Greif by 3.6% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Greif by 5.8% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,049 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in Greif by 71.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Greif by 4.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadence Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Greif by 11.1% in the second quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Greif Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of GEF stock opened at $62.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70. Greif has a 1 year low of $55.95 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. As a group, research analysts expect that Greif will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Greif’s payout ratio is presently 46.45%.

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.