Zacks Research Issues Positive Outlook for Greif Earnings

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2027 EPS estimates for Greif in a research note issued to investors on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the industrial products company will post earnings per share of $0.83 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.82. Zacks Research has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Greif’s current full-year earnings is $4.11 per share.

GEF has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $76.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Greif currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Greif Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Greif stock opened at $58.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.00. 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 1.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.22. Greif had a net margin of 3.52% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $740.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Greif’s payout ratio is 71.11%.

Insider Activity at Greif

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total transaction of $120,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 64,678 shares in the company, valued at $3,886,501.02. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Greif

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GEF. AXA S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,052,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 54.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 366,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,015,000 after acquiring an additional 128,880 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,052,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Greif in the 1st quarter valued at $3,193,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Greif in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,709,000. 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.