Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $69.54 and last traded at $70.24, with a volume of 43684 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GBX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Greenbrier Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Greenbrier Companies Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.54.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.56. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 5.10% and a return on equity of 12.10%. The firm had revenue of $875.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is 20.94%.

Insider Transactions at Greenbrier Companies

In related news, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 1,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total value of $86,056.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,008,056. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $150,363.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at $3,191,939.16. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,727 shares of company stock valued at $675,730 in the last ninety days. 1.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GBX. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Greenbrier Companies by 44.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 6,075 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $484,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Greenbrier Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 68,492 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,394,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Greenbrier Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $902,000. 95.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Greenbrier Companies Company Profile

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets railroad freight car equipment in North America, Europe, and South America. It operates through three segments: Manufacturing; Maintenance Services; and Leasing & Management Services. The Manufacturing segment offers covered hopper cars, gondolas, open top hoppers, boxcars, center partition cars, tank cars, sustainable conversions, double-stack railcars, auto-max ii, multi-max, and multi-max plus products, intermodal cars, automobile transport, coil steel and metals, flat cars, sliding wall cars, pressurized tank cars, and non-pressurized tank cars.