Greif (NYSE:GEF) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Greif (NYSE:GEF) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.29), Zacks reports. Greif had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 8.09%.

Greif Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE GEF traded down $1.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $81.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 396,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,909. Greif has a 52-week low of $55.90 and a 52-week high of $90.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.79.

Greif Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Greif’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Greif news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.67, for a total value of $109,670.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 7,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $827,898.83. This trade represents a 11.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.66, for a total value of $1,906,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 25,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,289,644.50. This represents a 45.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,900 shares of company stock valued at $4,414,117. Company insiders own 7.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GEF has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Greif from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “cautious” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America cut 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. Raymond James Financial upgraded Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.40.

Greif Company Profile

Greif, Inc is a global producer of industrial and paper packaging products and related services. The company manufactures and supplies fiber, steel and plastic drums; intermediate bulk containers; containerboard; corrugated sheets and products; and other packaging solutions for customers in a range of industries.

Greif also provides packaging lifecycle services, including container reconditioning, recycling, logistics and related customer support. Its products are used to package and transport food and beverage ingredients, chemicals, petroleum products, agricultural materials, pharmaceuticals and other industrial goods.

Founded in 1877 as a cooperage business, Greif has expanded into a multinational packaging company serving customers across North America, Europe and other international markets.