Greif (NYSE:GEF) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $71.39 and last traded at $70.92, with a volume of 73436 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $69.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 target price (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Sidoti assumed coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.40.

Greif Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.18 and its 200 day moving average is $62.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50 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 (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Greif’s payout ratio is 46.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Greif by 71.9% during the 2nd 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. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.