Greif Inc. (GEF) Stock Price & How to Invest

Greif, Inc. is a global industrial packaging company founded in 1877 and headquartered in Delaware, Ohio. It makes rigid industrial packaging used to ship and store liquids, chemicals, food ingredients and other bulk materials, including steel, plastic and fiber drums, rigid intermediate bulk containers (IBCs), jerrycans, small plastics and closure systems, along with paper-based and sustainable fiber products. Since early 2025 the business has been organized into four segments: Customized Polymer Solutions, Durable Metal Solutions, Sustainable Fiber Solutions and Integrated Solutions. In August 2025 Greif closed the sale of its containerboard business to Packaging Corporation of America for about $1.8 billion in an all-cash deal, reshaping the company toward its core industrial packaging franchises and materially cutting debt.

The investment picture is that of a mature, cyclical materials company whose demand tracks global manufacturing, chemical output and agricultural end markets. Volumes have been soft in a sluggish industrial environment, so recent results have leaned on pricing, cost optimization and disciplined capital allocation rather than growth. That approach paid off in the fiscal third quarter (ended June 30, 2026; Greif now runs a September fiscal year): revenue rose about 3.5% year over year to roughly $1.17 billion, net income was about $78 million, and EPS of $1.61 beat the $1.11 consensus by a wide margin, after a fiscal Q2 that only edged estimates ($1.10 vs $1.07). After the containerboard sale, net debt and leverage fell sharply, which supports the dividend and gives room for reinvestment or buybacks. Portfolio pruning has continued: on September 16, 2026 Greif said it will exit the coated recycled paperboard (CRB) market and close its Sweetwater mill in Austell, Georgia by the end of the calendar year, removing about 120,000 tons of annual capacity and affecting about 90 employees. With a market value near $4.7 billion, a trailing P/E around 37x (depressed by earlier one-off charges) but about 17x forward earnings, and a dividend yield around 3%, GEF tends to attract value and income investors betting on an eventual industrial upturn plus continued self-help on margins and cash flow.

The stock has rerated with results. At $81.90 on October 16, 2026, GEF is up about 20% year to date and 38% over twelve months, below its 52-week high of $90.57. Raymond James upgraded the shares to Outperform with a $90 target on October 16, while Truist trimmed its target to $94 from $97 and kept a Hold rating. Fiscal fourth-quarter results are scheduled for November 3, 2026, with consensus near $1.16 of EPS on about $1.09 billion of revenue.

Greif is cyclical and sensitive to global industrial production, chemical output and agricultural demand, so a prolonged manufacturing slowdown pressures volumes and pricing. Raw material costs (steel, resin and recovered fiber) and energy prices can squeeze margins when they cannot be passed through quickly. The business is capital intensive and exposed to foreign currency swings given its global footprint. Although the containerboard sale cut leverage, acquisitions or an industrial downturn could raise debt and strain the dividend. The dual-class share structure concentrates voting control, which can limit outside shareholder influence. Trailing reported operating cash flow is slightly negative (about -$52 million on Yahoo's measure), likely distorted by the containerboard sale and its tax effects, so cash conversion is worth watching as clean quarters accumulate. The CRB exit will bring closure costs that the company has not quantified, and after a 38% one-year gain the five-analyst mean target near $88 is only modestly above the current price.

5 analysts publish price targets on GEF, averaging $87.60 against a $82.12 price as of October 2026, or +6.7%. The published targets run from $75.00 to $100.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 1 buy, 4 hold, 1 sell. Over the last six months there have been 3 raises and 2 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full GEF forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Greif Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Portfolio reshaping after the containerboard sale. The $1.8 billion all-cash sale of the containerboard business to Packaging Corporation of America (closed August 31, 2025) refocused Greif on its higher-return industrial packaging franchises. The most optimistic published target, $100.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Greif is cyclical and sensitive to global industrial production, chemical output and agricultural demand, so a prolonged manufacturing slowdown pressures volumes and pricing. The most pessimistic target, $75.00, is roughly what GEF is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on GEF, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Greif Inc. (GEF) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Greif Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM, continuing ops): ~$4.3B
• Sales (fiscal Q3 2026): ~$1.17B, ~+3.5% YoY
• EPS (fiscal Q3 2026 vs estimate): $1.61 vs $1.11
• Net income (TTM): ~$229M
• P/E (trailing / forward): ~37x / ~17x
• Dividend yield (Class A): ~3.0% ($2.36 a year)
• Market cap: ~$4.7B
• EV/EBITDA: ~9.7x

With the stock near $82 and a market cap around $4.7 billion, GEF trades at about 17x forward earnings and roughly 9.7x EV/EBITDA, with a dividend yield near 3% on the Class A shares. The trailing P/E near 37x overstates the multiple because earlier quarters carried one-off charges; fiscal Q3 EPS of $1.61 beat consensus by about 45%. Yahoo shows about $1.23 billion of debt against $289 million of cash. Fiscal Q4 results are due November 3, 2026.

Other names that sit close to GEF: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get GEF exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so GEF sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where GEF fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

GEF is a slower-growth, cyclical industrial-packaging company with a leaner post-divestiture portfolio and a roughly 3% dividend. A strong fiscal Q3 2026 (EPS of $1.61 vs $1.11 expected) and the September decision to exit coated recycled paperboard have pushed the shares up about 38% in a year, so the story now hinges on industrial demand recovering while the margin gains hold up into the November 3 report.

Whether GEF is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is GEF a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the GEF stock forecast.

For income investors, whether GEF pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does GEF pay a dividend? And to weigh GEF against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: GEF vs SON and GEF vs SLGN.