Short Interest in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Grows By 10.4%

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,590,000 shares, a growth of 10.4% from the November 30th total of 1,440,000 shares. Approximately 4.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 171,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GATX has been the subject of several research reports. Sidoti lowered GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of GATX in a research note on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $185.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.80.

GATX Stock Performance

GATX stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $154.96. 104,710 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 155,635. GATX has a 12 month low of $114.78 and a 12 month high of $167.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $154.50 and a 200 day moving average of $142.61. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.99.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $2.50 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $405.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that GATX will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

GATX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. GATX’s payout ratio is 31.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Farm Mutual Automobile I. State acquired 8,984 shares of GATX stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $133.65 per share, with a total value of $1,200,711.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,312,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $442,688,093.10. This trade represents a 0.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of GATX

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of GATX by 0.6% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,692 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of GATX by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of GATX by 20.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 487 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of GATX by 5.3% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,843 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in GATX by 5.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

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.