State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 14,477 Shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,240 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 14,477 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.06% of Greif worth $1,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Greif by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,151 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,185,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Greif in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,972,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Greif during the fourth quarter worth about $192,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Greif by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Greif by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,725 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the period. 45.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GEF. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $67.00 target price (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Raymond James began coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. StockNews.com lowered Greif from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $76.00.

Greif Price Performance

GEF traded down $0.73 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.65. 103,344 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 164,974. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.56. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.95 and a twelve month high of $71.36. The company has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. This is a boost from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Greif's dividend payout ratio 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.