GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Short Interest Down 8.1% in March

GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the March 15th total of 1,230,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 140,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert C. Lyons sold 19,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.70, for a total transaction of $2,426,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 44,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,620,047. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Thomas A. Ellman sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.54, for a total transaction of $2,295,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 35,429 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,518,614.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert C. Lyons sold 19,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.70, for a total transaction of $2,426,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,620,047. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,694 shares of company stock worth $5,040,656 in the last quarter. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GATX

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of GATX in the first quarter valued at about $54,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of GATX by 155.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 335 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in GATX by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,969 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of GATX by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,862 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $471,005,000 after purchasing an additional 14,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GATX during the 4th quarter worth approximately $772,000. 93.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GATX Stock Performance

GATX traded down $0.89 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $128.66. The stock had a trading volume of 138,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 140,045. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.20. GATX has a one year low of $97.21 and a one year high of $135.65.

GATX (NYSE:GATX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.16. GATX had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 18.37%. The firm had revenue of $368.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $365.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that GATX will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

GATX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a boost from GATX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. GATX's dividend payout ratio is 32.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GATX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of GATX from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of GATX from $122.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of GATX from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th.

GATX Company Profile

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.

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