O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Sells 16,197 Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 37.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 16,197 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned 0.06% of Greif worth $1,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Greif by 3.6% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its position in shares of Greif by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 3,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Greif by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Greif by 4.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. lifted its position in shares of Greif by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 8,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $570,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GEF shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Greif from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Bank of America upgraded Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James started coverage on Greif in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.00.

Greif Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE GEF opened at $63.16 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $61.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.97. Greif, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two week high of $76.00. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.92.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Greif had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 5.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.73%.

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.