GATX (NYSE:GATX) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $151.42 and last traded at $150.06, with a volume of 13077 shares. The stock had previously closed at $142.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Susquehanna lifted their target price on GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st.

GATX Stock Up 7.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $135.90 and a 200-day moving average of $135.26.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.54. GATX had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 17.76%. The business had revenue of $405.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that GATX Co. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GATX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. GATX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GATX news, major shareholder Farm Mutual Automobile I. State purchased 8,984 shares of GATX stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $133.65 per share, for a total transaction of $1,200,711.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,312,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $442,688,093.10. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GATX

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of GATX by 78.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,186 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,572,000 after buying an additional 8,435 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of GATX by 89.2% during the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,273 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of GATX by 6.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 347,451 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,989,000 after purchasing an additional 20,985 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of GATX by 16.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 831,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,074,000 after purchasing an additional 120,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of GATX during the first quarter valued at $1,747,000. Institutional investors own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

About GATX

GATX Corporation, together its subsidiaries, operates as railcar leasing company in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and India. It operates through three segments: Rail North America, Rail International, and Portfolio Management. The company leases tank and freight railcars, and locomotives for petroleum, chemical, food/agriculture, and transportation industries.