Short Interest in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Drops By 8.1%

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the March 15th total of 1,230,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 140,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days.

Insider Transactions at GATX

In other news, SVP Kevin Hillesland sold 2,200 shares of GATX stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.83, for a total transaction of $294,426.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,031,963.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Kevin Hillesland sold 2,200 shares of GATX stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.83, for a total transaction of $294,426.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,031,963.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert C. Lyons sold 19,300 shares of GATX stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.70, for a total value of $2,426,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,620,047. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,694 shares of company stock valued at $5,040,656. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of GATX during the first quarter worth about $54,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of GATX by 155.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 335 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of GATX by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,969 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GATX by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $471,005,000 after purchasing an additional 14,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of GATX during the fourth quarter worth about $772,000. Institutional investors own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

GATX Price Performance

GATX stock traded down $1.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.48. The company had a trading volume of 30,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 138,540. GATX has a 1-year low of $97.21 and a 1-year high of $135.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $129.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.20. The company has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 0.98.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.16. GATX had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 18.37%. The firm had revenue of $368.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that GATX will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

GATX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This is a boost from GATX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. GATX’s payout ratio is currently 32.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GATX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on GATX from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on GATX from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on GATX from $122.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th.

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.