Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,740 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 6,779 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of Greenbrier Companies worth $7,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GBX. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Greenbrier Companies during the second quarter worth $801,000. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the first quarter valued at $4,594,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 270.0% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,019 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 15,338 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,435,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 265.8% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 52,149 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after buying an additional 37,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GBX has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Greenbrier Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

Greenbrier Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Greenbrier Companies stock opened at $64.63 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.22 and a 52 week high of $67.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.51.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.60. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 10.86%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. Greenbrier Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greenbrier Companies

In other news, SVP Ricardo Galvan sold 1,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total value of $86,056.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,008,056. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.78, for a total transaction of $117,560.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 48,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,863,408.92. This trade represents a 3.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,703 shares of company stock worth $790,338. 2.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.