The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,920,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 1,820,000 shares. Currently, 6.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 328,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Greenbrier Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.67.

Greenbrier Companies Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE GBX traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.60. 181,494 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 326,177. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.80. Greenbrier Companies has a 52 week low of $32.00 and a 52 week high of $58.00.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 8th. The transportation company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $820.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.73 million. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The firm’s revenue was down 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Greenbrier Companies will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 23rd were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Greenbrier Companies’s payout ratio is 31.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greenbrier Companies

In other news, SVP Laurie R. Dornan sold 5,935 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,226 shares in the company, valued at $1,182,667.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Greenbrier Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GBX. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $19,820,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Greenbrier Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $10,242,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Greenbrier Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,126,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Greenbrier Companies by 112.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 218,133 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,365,000 after acquiring an additional 115,421 shares during the period. Finally, Galibier Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Greenbrier Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,175,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.59% of the company’s stock.

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.