GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of GATX Co. (NYSE:GATX) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in GATX were worth $385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in GATX by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,234 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in GATX by 2.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,193,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in GATX in the third quarter worth about $747,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new position in GATX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in GATX by 1.5% during the 3rd 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. 93.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GATX shares. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of GATX from $122.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Sidoti lowered GATX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $158.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on GATX in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GATX news, major shareholder Farm Mutual Automobile I. State bought 8,984 shares of GATX stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $133.65 per share, for a total transaction of $1,200,711.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,312,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,688,093.10. This trade represents a 0.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

GATX Stock Down 0.2 %

GATX stock opened at $154.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.99. GATX Co. has a 12 month low of $114.78 and a 12 month high of $167.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.41, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 3.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.61.

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

GATX Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. GATX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.02%.

GATX 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.