Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Hold by Truist Financial

Greif (NYSE:GEF)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by stock analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $88.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $94.00. Truist Financial‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 21.39% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Greif from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Bank of America lowered shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.20.

Greif Price Performance

Greif stock traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $72.50. 297,753 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 356,349. Greif has a 12-month low of $57.07 and a 12-month high of $90.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $81.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.69. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.79.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.25). Greif had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 7.53%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Greif news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.67, for a total transaction of $109,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $827,898.83. The trade was a 11.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,240,894.24. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $613,710 in the last three months. 7.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Greif by 35.0% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,361,000 after acquiring an additional 63,843 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Greif by 5.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,099,000 after buying an additional 5,071 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Greif by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,322 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in Greif by 362.2% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,362,000 after acquiring an additional 24,846 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Greif in the first quarter valued at about $1,853,000. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.