Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,641 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in GATX were worth $3,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of GATX by 0.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,692 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of GATX by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of GATX by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 919 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of GATX by 91.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 163 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of GATX by 20.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 487 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at GATX

In other news, SVP Jeffery R. Young sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $48,895.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,212,006.06. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert Zmudka sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.83, for a total transaction of $786,384.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,578.19. This trade represents a 39.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GATX. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GATX in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Sidoti downgraded shares of GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

GATX Stock Performance

Shares of GATX stock opened at $167.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37. GATX Co. has a 12 month low of $122.00 and a 12 month high of $168.89. The company has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $159.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.06.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. GATX had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 12.07%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that GATX Co. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GATX Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from GATX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. GATX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.86%.

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.