Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.54

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th.

Greif has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years. Greif has a dividend payout ratio of 44.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Greif to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.1%.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF stock traded down $1.61 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $69.89. The stock had a trading volume of 344,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 168,790. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $73.16. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. Greif’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GEF shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America cut their target price on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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 reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Sidoti started coverage on Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

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.