Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GBX. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Greenbrier Companies from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Greenbrier Companies in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Greenbrier Companies Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE GBX opened at $41.87 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.25. Greenbrier Companies has a one year low of $37.77 and a one year high of $71.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.43 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 31st. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. Greenbrier Companies had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 6.30%.The business had revenue of $766.50 million during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Greenbrier Companies will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is presently 20.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James R. Huffines bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $44.84 per share, with a total value of $112,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,679.56. This represents a 21.91% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GBX. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $586,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 27.2% during the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 2,960 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the first quarter valued at $235,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 156,118 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,996,000 after buying an additional 4,089 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 24.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,139 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.59% of the company’s stock.

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.