Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $51.45, but opened at $55.90. Greenbrier Companies shares last traded at $56.19, with a volume of 83,072 shares traded.

The transportation company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. Greenbrier Companies had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 3.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share.

Greenbrier Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 31.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Greenbrier Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com cut Greenbrier Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Greenbrier Companies from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Greenbrier Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Insider Activity at Greenbrier Companies

In other Greenbrier Companies news, SVP Laurie R. Dornan sold 5,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.92, for a total value of $302,210.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,182,667.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GBX. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Greenbrier Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 60.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 547 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Greenbrier Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.59% of the company’s stock.

Greenbrier Companies Trading Up 14.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.73.

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.