Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Price

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its price target dropped by Bank of America from $77.00 to $71.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.84% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Greif to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.80.

Greif Trading Down 4.5%

GEF traded down $2.94 on Tuesday, hitting $62.37. 83,100 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 187,444. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Greif has a 12 month low of $48.23 and a 12 month high of $73.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.41.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Greif news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $68,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 100,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,934,631.76. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gary R. Martz sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.90, for a total value of $1,998,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 68,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,698,015.40. This represents a 29.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 94,741 shares of company stock valued at $6,448,252. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the first quarter worth $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Greif by 104.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Greif in the second quarter worth $214,000. 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.