Greif, Inc. to Post FY2024 Earnings of $4.16 Per Share, Zacks Research Forecasts (NYSE:GEF)

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research lifted their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Greif in a report issued on Wednesday, June 26th. Zacks Research analyst M. Das now forecasts that the industrial products company will earn $4.16 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $3.63. The consensus estimate for Greif’s current full-year earnings is $4.40 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Greif’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.45 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.97 EPS and Q1 2026 earnings at $1.16 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GEF. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Greif in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $71.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com raised Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.50.

Greif Price Performance

GEF stock opened at $56.72 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.57. Greif has a 52-week low of $56.50 and a 52-week high of $76.00.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Greif had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 5.17%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is 44.73%.

Insider Activity at Greif

In other Greif news, VP Gary R. Martz purchased 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $68.98 per share, with a total value of $275,920.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 17,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,173,901.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Gary R. Martz purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $68.98 per share, with a total value of $275,920.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now owns 17,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,173,901.64. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Gary R. Martz acquired 1,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $68.37 per share, for a total transaction of $123,544.59. Following the acquisition, the vice president now directly owns 23,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,579,347. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Greif by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 78,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,159,000 after buying an additional 38,229 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Greif in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,943,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Greif by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 402,383 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,883,000 after purchasing an additional 24,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Greif by 82.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,273 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently 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.