Robert W. Baird Lowers Greif (NYSE:GEF) Price Target to $68.00

Greif (NYSE:GEF) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $75.00 to $68.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.46% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Greif from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Sidoti assumed coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Greif from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.17.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF stock opened at $57.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.07. Greif has a 52 week low of $53.42 and a 52 week high of $73.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.33). Greif had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Greif will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Greif

In other Greif news, EVP Bala Sathyanarayanan sold 748 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lawrence A. Hilsheimer acquired 1,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $69.14 per share, for a total transaction of $74,325.50. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,437,553.64. This represents a 0.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 6,225 shares of company stock worth $431,731 over the last quarter. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in Greif during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,279,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Greif by 7,222.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 233,370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,264,000 after acquiring an additional 230,183 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 4th quarter worth $7,473,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the 4th quarter worth $4,219,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Greif by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 298,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,229,000 after acquiring an additional 60,313 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

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.