Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Boosts Stock Holdings in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) by 144.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,570 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in GATX were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in GATX by 2.2% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 167,651 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $22,206,000 after acquiring an additional 3,580 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GATX by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 474,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,878,000 after purchasing an additional 17,255 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in GATX by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,294,895 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $171,509,000 after purchasing an additional 7,585 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in GATX by 16.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 831,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,074,000 after buying an additional 120,149 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in GATX during the second quarter valued at approximately $487,000. 93.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GATX Stock Down 1.5 %

GATX stock opened at $154.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41. GATX Co. has a twelve month low of $114.78 and a twelve month high of $167.74.

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

GATX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. GATX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.02%.

Insider Transactions at GATX

In other GATX news, major shareholder Farm Mutual Automobile I. State bought 8,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $133.65 per share, with a total value of $1,200,711.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 3,312,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,688,093.10. This trade represents a 0.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of GATX in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $185.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Sidoti lowered GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.80.

About GATX

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.