Royal Bank of Canada Lowers CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Price Target to $35.00

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) had its price objective decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CSX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CSX from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on CSX from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of CSX in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of CSX in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of CSX in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.61.

CSX Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSX opened at $34.12 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.93. The stock has a market cap of $66.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.16. CSX has a one year low of $29.03 and a one year high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. CSX had a net margin of 24.52% and a return on equity of 29.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CSX will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 0.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 65,251,716 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,418,883,000 after buying an additional 443,755 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 6.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 17,133,857 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $573,128,000 after buying an additional 1,060,204 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 9.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,421,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $415,466,000 after buying an additional 1,060,617 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 38.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,749,827 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $225,917,000 after buying an additional 1,884,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Interval Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 849.0% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 5,118,751 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $171,222,000 after buying an additional 4,579,344 shares in the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.