Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) Downgraded to "Buy" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Greenbrier Companies was downgraded from a "strong-buy" to a "buy" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen in a recent report.
• Susquehanna increased its price target for Greenbrier from $52 to $57 while maintaining a "positive" rating.
• The company reported $1.86 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $842.70 million, up 2.7% year-over-year.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Greenbrier Companies from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd.

Greenbrier Companies Price Performance

GBX traded up $1.77 on Friday, hitting $46.83. 142,494 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 473,733. The business's fifty day moving average is $47.97 and its 200 day moving average is $49.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.69. Greenbrier Companies has a fifty-two week low of $37.77 and a fifty-two week high of $71.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 1st. The transportation company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.87. The business had revenue of $842.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $785.72 million. Greenbrier Companies had a net margin of 6.48% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Greenbrier Companies will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Greenbrier Companies

In other news, COO William J. Krueger sold 4,000 shares of Greenbrier Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 32,714 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,570,272. The trade was a 10.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Wanda F. Felton sold 3,652 shares of Greenbrier Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 $162,930. This trade represents a 54.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,379 shares of company stock valued at $595,213. Corporate insiders own 1.78% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GBX. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Greenbrier Companies by 260.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 741,760 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $37,993,000 after purchasing an additional 535,843 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 268.6% in the 1st quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 379,073 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $19,416,000 after acquiring an additional 276,228 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 545,185 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $33,251,000 after acquiring an additional 264,552 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,778,630 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $193,541,000 after acquiring an additional 242,180 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Greenbrier Companies by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 930,236 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $56,735,000 after purchasing an additional 193,340 shares in the last quarter. 95.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 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.