American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) by 2,527.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 457,623 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 440,205 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.43% of Greenbrier Companies worth $14,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,334,030 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $78,260,000 after acquiring an additional 380,048 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Greenbrier Companies by 21.9% during the first quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 20,039 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 111,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,593,000 after buying an additional 3,328 shares during the last quarter. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP now owns 227,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,305,000 after buying an additional 20,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,677,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $56,257,000 after buying an additional 46,022 shares during the last quarter. 90.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greenbrier Companies

In other news, Director Charles J. Swindells sold 1,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.20, for a total transaction of $66,444.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,653,099.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Greenbrier Companies news, SVP Laurie R. Dornan sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.29, for a total transaction of $150,442.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,331 shares in the company, valued at $1,033,701.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles J. Swindells sold 1,470 shares of Greenbrier Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.20, for a total transaction of $66,444.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,653,099.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GBX shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Greenbrier Companies from $37.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Greenbrier Companies in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

Greenbrier Companies Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of GBX stock opened at $43.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.32. The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.80 and a twelve month high of $48.21.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 29th. The transportation company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.42. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 1.49% and a return on equity of 6.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.09 EPS. Greenbrier Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Greenbrier Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 18th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. This is an increase from Greenbrier Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.59%.

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 conventional railcars, such as covered hopper cars, boxcars, and center partition cars; tank cars; double-stack intermodal railcars; auto-max and multi-max products for the transportation of light vehicles; pressurized tank cars, non-pressurized tank cars, flat cars, coil cars, gondolas, sliding wall cars, intermodal cars, hoppers and automobile transporter cars; and marine vessels.