Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Short Interest Update

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 598,400 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the October 15th total of 552,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 160,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Greif by 71.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Greif during the 2nd quarter worth $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Greif during the 2nd quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 27,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:GEF traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $67.05. The stock had a trading volume of 210,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 168,024. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.42 and its 200 day moving average is $62.43. Greif has a fifty-two week low of $55.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.14). Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Greif will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Greif’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Greif’s dividend payout ratio is 46.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on GEF. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 price target (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

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.