Greif (NYSE:GEF) Shares Break Above 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.93 and traded as high as $83.50. Greif shares last traded at $83.1280, with a volume of 206,741 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GEF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Greif from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “cautious” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America cut Greif from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial raised Greif from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Greif from $97.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Greif from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.40.

Greif Trading Up 0.5%

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.37.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Greif, Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given 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 of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th.

Insider Activity at Greif

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.26, for a total value of $511,560.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 57,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,930,756.32. This represents a 9.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 1,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.60, for a total transaction of $101,535.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 21,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,889,217.80. The trade was a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 98,987 shares of company stock worth $8,661,538 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Greif by 268.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 1,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Greif in the 3rd quarter valued at $392,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Greif by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,015 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Greif by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 3,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in Greif by 362.2% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,362,000 after purchasing an additional 24,846 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.