Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 8,865 Shares of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) by 47.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,993 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 8,865 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Greenbrier Companies were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GBX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 147.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,188 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 4,876 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $225,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Greenbrier Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,527,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 21.2% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 9,233 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Greenbrier Companies by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 197,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,033,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the last quarter. 95.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GBX shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Greenbrier Companies from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $75.00 to $52.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Greenbrier Companies news, COO William J. Krueger sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.21, for a total transaction of $126,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 42,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,699,951.94. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.78% of the company’s stock.

Greenbrier Companies Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:GBX opened at $42.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.81. The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $37.77 and a one year high of $71.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.40, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The transportation company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $762.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $898.53 million. Greenbrier Companies had a return on equity of 12.10% and a net margin of 5.10%. The company’s revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greenbrier Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This is a boost from Greenbrier Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

Greenbrier Companies Company Profile

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 covered hopper cars, gondolas, open top hoppers, boxcars, center partition cars, tank cars, sustainable conversions, double-stack railcars, auto-max ii, multi-max, and multi-max plus products, intermodal cars, automobile transport, coil steel and metals, flat cars, sliding wall cars, pressurized tank cars, and non-pressurized tank cars.