Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.54

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th.

Greif has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. Greif has a dividend payout ratio of 39.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Greif to earn $5.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.4%.

Greif Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of GEF opened at $60.57 on Wednesday. Greif has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two week high of $73.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.53.

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). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. Greif’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Greif from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Sidoti began coverage on Greif in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greif

In related news, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer purchased 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $67.61 per share, with a total value of $74,371.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 163,251 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of Greif stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.21, for a total transaction of $45,037.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,970,613.09. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased 6,225 shares of company stock valued at $431,731 over the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.