Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $66.50 and last traded at $66.12, with a volume of 11346 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on GBX shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Greenbrier Companies from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Greenbrier Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Greenbrier Companies Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.51.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Greenbrier Companies had a return on equity of 10.86% and a net margin of 4.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 1,388 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,008,056. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 1,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $86,056.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,388 shares in the company, valued at $2,008,056. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $150,363.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,191,939.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,703 shares of company stock valued at $790,338. 2.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GBX. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 1.5% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 104,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,311,000 after buying an additional 1,498 shares in the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL raised its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 5,454 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Greenbrier Companies in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Greenbrier Companies by 5.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 151,814 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,726,000 after purchasing an additional 7,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 6.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 513,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,154,000 after purchasing an additional 32,191 shares during the period. 95.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Greenbrier Companies

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.