Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) Short Interest Up 16.1% in November

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 695,000 shares, an increase of 16.1% from the October 31st total of 598,400 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 174,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greif

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GEF. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greif by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,953 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Greif by 14.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 15,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in Greif during the third quarter worth about $610,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Greif by 97.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 34,045 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 16,759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Greif by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 302,552 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,958,000 after buying an additional 40,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.74% of the company’s stock.

Greif Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GEF traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $71.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 99,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 190,872. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 0.91. Greif has a 12-month low of $55.95 and a 12-month high of $73.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.87. 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 (NYSE:GEF) last released its 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 business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Greif had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 4.99%. On average, analysts forecast that Greif will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GEF shares. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 target price (down from $69.00) on shares of Greif in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Greif from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Greif from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Greif in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Sidoti began coverage on Greif in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.40.

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.