CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.59.

CSX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of CSX in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of CSX from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Institutional Trading of CSX

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in CSX by 3.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,340,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $748,471,000 after purchasing an additional 739,411 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CSX by 3,241.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 235,304 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,158,000 after purchasing an additional 228,263 shares in the last quarter. Partners Group Holding AG lifted its holdings in CSX by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 704,544 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $24,427,000 after purchasing an additional 149,105 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in CSX by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 723,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,078,000 after purchasing an additional 34,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in CSX during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,279,000. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CSX Price Performance

CSX stock opened at $33.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.15. CSX has a 52 week low of $29.03 and a 52 week high of $40.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.42 and its 200 day moving average is $35.13. The firm has a market cap of $65.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.20.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. CSX had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 29.58%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that CSX will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.37%.

About CSX

CSX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides rail-based freight transportation services. The company offers rail services; and transportation of intermodal containers and trailers, as well as other transportation services, such as rail-to-truck transfers and bulk commodity operations. It also transports chemicals, agricultural and food products, minerals, automotive, forest products, fertilizers, and metals and equipment; and coal, coke, and iron ore to electricity-generating power plants, steel manufacturers, and industrial plants, as well as exports coal to deep-water port facilities.