GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Short Interest Up 5.1% in October

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, an increase of 5.1% from the October 15th total of 1,360,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 140,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.2 days.

Insider Activity at GATX

In related 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 bought at an average price of $133.65 per share, with a total value of $1,200,711.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,312,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $442,688,093.10. This represents a 0.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GATX

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GATX. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of GATX by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,118,084 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $412,710,000 after buying an additional 68,243 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of GATX by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,294,895 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $171,509,000 after purchasing an additional 7,585 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of GATX by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 869,643 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $115,106,000 after purchasing an additional 40,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in GATX by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 849,603 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $112,550,000 after buying an additional 12,571 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in GATX by 16.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 831,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $110,074,000 after acquiring an additional 120,149 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Susquehanna lifted their price target on GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st.

GATX Stock Performance

GATX stock opened at $151.53 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.76. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41. GATX has a 12-month low of $106.92 and a 12-month high of $156.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26 and a beta of 0.95.

GATX (NYSE:GATX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.54. GATX had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $405.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that GATX will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GATX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. GATX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.02%.

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.