Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 537,200 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the July 31st total of 579,700 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 174,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter valued at $452,000. Quarry LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 262,058 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,061,000 after acquiring an additional 28,669 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its stake in Greif by 16.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,260 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in Greif by 21.7% during the second quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 13,737 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 2,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GEF. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Greif from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of Greif in a research report on Friday, July 19th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $76.00.

Greif Stock Performance

Shares of GEF stock traded up $0.59 on Monday, reaching $62.52. The stock had a trading volume of 199,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 166,642. The firm's 50-day moving average is $61.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Greif has a 12 month low of $55.95 and a 12 month high of $74.46.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. Greif had a net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Greif will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. Greif's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.45%.

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.