Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,289 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.48% of Greenbrier Companies worth $9,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. De Lisle Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 93,949 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,777,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 112.6% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 16,050 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 8,500 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 125.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 47,476 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 26,457 shares during the last quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 150,295 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,649,000 after purchasing an additional 18,924 shares during the last quarter. 95.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Greenbrier Companies Stock Performance

Shares of GBX stock opened at $56.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.52. The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.40 and a 52-week high of $71.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $62.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $875.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $849.51 million. Greenbrier Companies had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 5.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 29th. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is 20.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Greenbrier Companies news, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.21, for a total transaction of $126,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 42,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,699,951.94. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America boosted their price target on Greenbrier Companies from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Greenbrier Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

Greenbrier Companies 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.