Greif (NYSE:GEF) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $60.40 and traded as high as $60.59. Greif shares last traded at $59.80, with a volume of 122,640 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GEF. Zacks Research cut Greif from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Greif from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Greif in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Greif from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.80.

Greif Stock Down 1.0%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.00.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.22. Greif had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 3.52%.The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.23 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Greif, Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Timothy Bergwall sold 2,000 shares of Greif stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.55, for a total transaction of $121,100.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,037,352.90. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greif

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GEF. AXA S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the second quarter worth about $9,052,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Greif by 54.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 366,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,015,000 after acquiring an additional 128,880 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the second quarter worth about $6,052,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the first quarter worth about $3,193,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Greif in the second quarter valued at about $3,709,000. 45.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Greif

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.