Level Four Advisory Services LLC Buys New Shares in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 25,763 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,992,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of GATX by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,834 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in GATX during the fourth quarter worth about $518,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in GATX during the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,496,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in GATX by 81.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 168,747 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,149,000 after buying an additional 75,886 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of GATX by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,949,889 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $612,075,000 after buying an additional 17,885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Sidoti lowered GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

GATX Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of GATX opened at $155.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a current ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 1.00. GATX Co. has a 52 week low of $122.00 and a 52 week high of $168.89.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. GATX had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 17.92%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that GATX Co. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

GATX Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. This is an increase from GATX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. GATX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jeffery R. Young sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $48,895.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,212,006.06. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Zmudka sold 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.83, for a total value of $786,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,493 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,578.19. The trade was a 39.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.