Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Price Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $73.39 and traded as high as $85.39. Greif shares last traded at $84.5630, with a volume of 382,737 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $97.00 target price (up from $78.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Greif from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Greif from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Greif currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.00.

Greif Stock Down 1.9%

The company has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $84.13 and a 200-day moving average of $73.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 7.53%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Greif’s payout ratio is presently 77.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Lawrence Hilsheimer sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.66, for a total value of $1,906,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,289,644.50. This represents a 45.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 6,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.26, for a total transaction of $511,560.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 57,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,930,756.32. The trade was a 9.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 98,987 shares of company stock valued at $8,644,178 in the last 90 days. 7.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Greif by 35.0% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,361,000 after acquiring an additional 63,843 shares during the last quarter. EVR Research LP bought a new stake in Greif during the fourth quarter worth about $11,848,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Greif by 5.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,099,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Greif by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 59,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,055,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Greif by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 8,322 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Greif

Greif, Inc (NYSE: GEF) is a global packaging company that produces and sells industrial packaging products and paper-based packaging materials. Its offerings include fiber, steel and plastic drums; intermediate bulk containers; containerboard and corrugated products; paperboard tubes and cores; and related closure systems and services.

The company serves customers in industries such as chemicals, food and beverage, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, and other industrial markets. Greif’s packaging products are designed to help customers transport, protect and store bulk materials, while its paper and corrugated products support a broad range of commercial and industrial applications.

Greif traces its history to 1877, when it was founded as a cooperage business in Cleveland, Ohio.