Greif (NYSE:GEF) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.29 EPS

Greif (NYSE:GEF) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.29), Zacks reports. Greif had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 8.09%.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of Greif stock traded down $1.35 on Tuesday, reaching $81.47. 396,566 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 262,909. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.79. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.90 and a 1-year high of $90.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average is $82.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.59.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GEF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Greif from $97.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Bank of America cut Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.40.

Insider Activity at Greif

In other Greif news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $163,640.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 51,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,894.24. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.66, for a total value of $1,906,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,289,644.50. The trade was a 45.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 49,900 shares of company stock worth $4,414,117 in the last 90 days. 7.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Greif Company Profile

Greif, Inc is a global producer of industrial and paper packaging products and related services. The company manufactures and supplies fiber, steel and plastic drums; intermediate bulk containers; containerboard; corrugated sheets and products; and other packaging solutions for customers in a range of industries.

Greif also provides packaging lifecycle services, including container reconditioning, recycling, logistics and related customer support. Its products are used to package and transport food and beverage ingredients, chemicals, petroleum products, agricultural materials, pharmaceuticals and other industrial goods.

Founded in 1877 as a cooperage business, Greif has expanded into a multinational packaging company serving customers across North America, Europe and other international markets.