Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Price

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Bank of America from $79.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.13% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Sidoti initiated coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.33.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GEF traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $61.28. 45,043 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 170,515. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.11. Greif has a 1-year low of $55.95 and a 1-year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greif

In other news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $67.61 per share, with a total value of $74,371.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 163,251 shares in the company, valued at $11,037,400.11. This represents a 0.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director B Andrew Rose bought 3,500 shares of Greif stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.20 per share, for a total transaction of $245,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,500 shares in the company, valued at $245,700. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 6,225 shares of company stock valued at $431,731 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Greif by 770.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Greif by 17.6% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 540,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,053,000 after purchasing an additional 80,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 450.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 46,176 shares during the period. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Greif Company Profile

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.