Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $76.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 11.95% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on GEF. Zacks Research raised shares of Greif to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price target (up from $71.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.33.

Greif Price Performance

Greif stock opened at $67.8860 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $66.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.67. Greif has a 12-month low of $48.23 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.11. Greif had a net margin of 3.74% and a return on equity of 10.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greif

In other Greif news, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.75, for a total transaction of $1,972,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 97,464 shares in the company, valued at $6,408,258. The trade was a 23.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Kimberly Anne Kellermann sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.88, for a total transaction of $610,920.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,838.24. The trade was a 71.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 94,741 shares of company stock valued at $6,448,252. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GEF. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Greif during the fourth quarter valued at $46,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Greif by 7,222.6% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 233,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,264,000 after purchasing an additional 230,183 shares during the period. AXA S.A. acquired a new stake in Greif in the second quarter worth about $9,052,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Greif by 54.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 366,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,015,000 after purchasing an additional 128,880 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Greif in the fourth quarter worth about $7,473,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.