Greif (NYSE:GEF) Now Covered by Raymond James

Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Greif (NYSE:GEF) in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

GEF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Greif from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America upgraded Greif from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, June 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Greif from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Greif Price Performance

GEF opened at $61.99 on Friday. 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 $55.95 and a 52-week high of $76.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.99.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 5.17%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Greif’s payout ratio is presently 44.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 409,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,853,000 after acquiring an additional 15,169 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Greif during the fourth quarter valued at $10,972,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 203.9% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,413,000 after acquiring an additional 91,461 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Greif by 318.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 133,169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,735,000 after buying an additional 101,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Greif by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,852 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,943,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by 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.