Greif (NYSE:GEF) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Sidoti

Sidoti started coverage on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $93.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on GEF. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 price target (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Greif has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.40.

Greif Price Performance

NYSE GEF opened at $71.26 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Greif has a 52 week low of $55.95 and a 52 week high of $71.39.

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

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is a boost from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 46.96%.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEF. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greif during the second quarter worth $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Greif by 80.5% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the second quarter valued at $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the period. 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.