Greif (NYSE:GEF) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $81.25, but opened at $74.80. Greif shares last traded at $80.8480, with a volume of 33,210 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.29). Greif had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Greif Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Greif’s payout ratio is currently 77.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GEF. Bank of America cut shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $97.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial raised Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.40.

Insider Transactions at Greif

In other 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 transaction of $1,906,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,644.50. This represents a 45.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $163,640.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 51,832 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,894.24. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,900 shares of company stock valued at $4,414,117. Company insiders own 7.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greif

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 246,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,361,000 after buying an additional 63,843 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Greif by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,099,000 after buying an additional 5,071 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Greif by 29.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,322 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in Greif by 362.2% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,362,000 after buying an additional 24,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Greif in the first quarter valued at about $1,853,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Stock Performance

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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.79.

About Greif

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.