Greif, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.54 (NYSE:GEF)

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.54 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, January 1st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

Greif has raised its dividend by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years. Greif has a dividend payout ratio of 44.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Greif to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.1%.

Greif Trading Down 2.3 %

GEF stock traded down $1.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $69.89. 344,241 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 168,790. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.92. Greif has a one year low of $55.95 and a one year high of $73.16.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Greif will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GEF. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Sidoti assumed coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 target price (down previously from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Greif has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

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.