GATX Co. (GATX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.61 on March 31st

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.61 per share by the transportation company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from GATX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58.

GATX has increased its dividend by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. GATX has a payout ratio of 25.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

GATX Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GATX stock opened at $163.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 0.99. GATX has a 52-week low of $122.00 and a 52-week high of $168.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.31.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that GATX will post 8.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GATX. Sidoti downgraded GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of GATX in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $185.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at GATX

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

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.