CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Price Target Cut to $44.00

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) had its target price trimmed by UBS Group from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CSX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com downgraded CSX from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.72.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of CSX opened at $34.39 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $67.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.18. CSX has a 52-week low of $29.03 and a 52-week high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.66 billion. CSX had a return on equity of 29.88% and a net margin of 24.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CSX will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in CSX by 101,926.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,323,241 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $722,554,000 after acquiring an additional 23,300,381 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CSX in the fourth quarter worth $757,276,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in CSX by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 64,807,961 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,246,893,000 after acquiring an additional 9,914,656 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of CSX by 558.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,800,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $203,620,000 after buying an additional 5,767,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of CSX by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 40,353,078 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,399,104,000 after buying an additional 5,041,679 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

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.