Greif’s (GEF) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Greif (NYSE:GEF)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Bank of America in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $77.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $71.00. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.84% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GEF. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Greif from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Greif from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.83.

Greif Stock Performance

GEF stock opened at $68.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.99. Greif has a 1 year low of $48.23 and a 1 year high of $73.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.47.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.11. Greif had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 3.74%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ole G. Rosgaard sold 30,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.75, for a total value of $1,972,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 97,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,408,258. This trade represents a 23.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kimberly Anne Kellermann sold 9,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.88, for a total value of $610,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,838.24. This represents a 71.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 62,437 shares of company stock valued at $4,224,010. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Greif in the first quarter worth approximately $654,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Greif during the first quarter worth $3,193,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Greif by 54.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Greif by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 37,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,042,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Greif by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,251,074 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,797,000 after acquiring an additional 55,948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.