Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Stock Position Decreased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF - Free Report) by 68.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,774 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 51,244 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.05% of Greif worth $1,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GEF. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Greif by 71.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 545 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greif during the 2nd quarter worth about $64,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position 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 purchased a new position in Greif in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Greif by 27,766.7% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Greif in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Greif from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James initiated coverage on Greif in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Greif Stock Up 0.7 %

GEF traded up $0.46 on Friday, reaching $62.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 137,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 165,165. 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 1 year low of $55.95 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The business's 50 day moving average is $62.30 and its 200 day moving average is $62.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greif Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Greif's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Greif's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.96%.

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.