The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) Short Interest Up 11.8% in December

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,270,000 shares, an increase of 11.8% from the November 30th total of 2,030,000 shares. Currently, 7.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 298,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GBX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

Greenbrier Companies Price Performance

Shares of GBX stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $60.99. 201,359 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 319,348. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.16. Greenbrier Companies has a fifty-two week low of $41.40 and a fifty-two week high of $69.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.60. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 10.86%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Greenbrier Companies will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

Insider Activity at Greenbrier Companies

In other news, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 4,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $321,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 27,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,785,680. The trade was a 15.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total value of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 48,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,863,408.92. This trade represents a 3.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,703 shares of company stock valued at $790,338 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Greenbrier Companies

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 3.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,858 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $990,000 after buying an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,454 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Greenbrier Companies by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 711,931 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,237,000 after purchasing an additional 7,886 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 216.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 319,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,239,000 after purchasing an additional 218,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $296,000. 95.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Greenbrier Companies Company Profile

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.