Greif (NYSE:GEF) Hits New 52-Week Low at $56.50

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $56.50 and last traded at $56.51, with a volume of 33888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GEF shares. Bank of America raised shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $71.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.50.

Greif Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Greif had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 15.57%. Greif’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Greif’s payout ratio is presently 44.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Greif news, VP Gary R. Martz bought 1,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $68.37 per share, for a total transaction of $123,544.59. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,579,347. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Greif by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 78,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,159,000 after acquiring an additional 38,229 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Greif during the fourth quarter worth $2,943,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Greif by 8.1% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,054 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Greif by 6.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 402,383 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,883,000 after buying an additional 24,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Greif by 82.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 4,273 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.