EMC Capital Management Has $185,000 Holdings in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)

EMC Capital Management cut its stake in shares of Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) by 57.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,686 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,679 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Greif were worth $185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GEF. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Greif by 3.6% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its position in Greif by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 3,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Greif by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greif by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 8,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. 45.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GEF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Greif from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Greif from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Greif from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Greif presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Greif Price Performance

GEF traded down $1.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.38. 133,323 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 169,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.57. Greif, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.95 and a 12-month high of $76.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.04. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.91.

Greif (NYSE:GEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. Greif had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 15.57%. Greif’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Greif, Inc. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Greif Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Greif’s payout ratio is 44.73%.

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.