7,872 Shares in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Bought by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,872 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,049 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 71.9% during 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. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,258 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.74% of the company's stock.

Greif Trading Up 0.5 %

GEF traded up $0.31 on Thursday, hitting $65.20. 233,874 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 165,184. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.70. Greif, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.95 and a 12 month high of $71.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. Sell-side analysts expect that Greif, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.54 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Greif's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GEF. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Greif in a report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $67.00 price objective (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a report on Friday, August 30th. Raymond James began coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut Greif from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $76.00.

Greif Company Profile

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.