Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Greenbrier Companies Trading Up 4.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.65.

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

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is presently 20.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 48,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,863,408.92. The trade was a 3.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 4,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $321,750.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,785,680. This trade represents a 15.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,727 shares of company stock valued at $675,730 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greenbrier Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 19,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Greenbrier Companies by 60.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 547 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Greenbrier Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,859 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,939 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. 95.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.