Greif (NYSE:GEF) Given New $71.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its price target decreased by Bank of America from $77.00 to $71.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Greif to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.80.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $62.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Greif has a 1-year low of $48.23 and a 1-year high of $73.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $66.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.89.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.23 million. Greif had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Greif news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.12, for a total transaction of $136,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 70,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,814,585.36. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $68,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,934,631.76. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,741 shares of company stock worth $6,448,252 over the last three months. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Greif by 104.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter worth about $214,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Greif

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.