Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:GBX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:GBX) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 156,118 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,089 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.50% of Greenbrier Companies worth $7,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 32,993 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Greenbrier Companies by 44.7% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 690 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in Greenbrier Companies by 892.7% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 407 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 61,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,516 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GBX. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Greenbrier Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th.

Greenbrier Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Greenbrier Companies stock opened at $50.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.71. Greenbrier Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.77 and a 52 week high of $71.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $47.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.38.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 1st. The transportation company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.87. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 6.48% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company had revenue of $842.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $785.72 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. Greenbrier Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Greenbrier Companies, Inc. will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Greenbrier Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 17th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 17th. Greenbrier Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.13%.

Insider Activity at Greenbrier Companies

In other Greenbrier Companies news, Director Thomas B. Fargo sold 3,727 shares of Greenbrier Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.97, for a total transaction of $204,873.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,141 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,690.77. The trade was a 63.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Wanda F. Felton sold 3,652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.31, for a total transaction of $198,340.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,930. This represents a 54.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,379 shares of company stock worth $691,213 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.78% of the company’s stock.

Greenbrier Companies 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.