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

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th.

Greif has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. Greif has a dividend payout ratio of 39.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Greif to earn $5.22 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 41.4%.

Greif Stock Performance

GEF stock traded up $0.76 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $60.57. 130,478 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 153,241. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year high of $73.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sidoti assumed coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four research 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total value of $45,037.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,970,613.09. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.88 per share, for a total transaction of $37,334.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 162,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,006,809.88. This trade represents a 0.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731 in the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.