GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Short Interest Update

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the September 30th total of 1,240,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 145,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.3 days.

GATX Stock Up 0.2 %

GATX stock opened at $139.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 4.97. GATX has a 1-year low of $101.56 and a 1-year high of $151.33. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $135.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.81.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.54. GATX had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $405.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.65 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GATX will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GATX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. GATX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at GATX

In related news, major shareholder Farm Mutual Automobile I. State bought 8,984 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $133.65 per share, for a total transaction of $1,200,711.60. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 3,312,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $442,688,093.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of GATX

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in GATX by 16.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 831,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $110,074,000 after purchasing an additional 120,149 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in GATX by 2.7% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,049,841 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $408,770,000 after purchasing an additional 80,087 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in GATX by 5.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 828,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $111,073,000 after purchasing an additional 44,517 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in GATX during the third quarter worth $3,922,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in GATX by 46.4% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,366 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,446,000 after purchasing an additional 22,619 shares in the last quarter. 93.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st.

GATX Company Profile

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.