Royal Bank of Canada Cuts CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Price Target to $36.00

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) had its price objective reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $37.00 to $36.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga 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 commented on the company. Benchmark restated a buy rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James raised their price target on CSX from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.72.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSX opened at $34.34 on Thursday. CSX has a one year low of $29.03 and a one year high of $40.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $67.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.37.

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

CSX Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in CSX in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $14,980,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in CSX by 6.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,158,544 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $230,637,000 after purchasing an additional 347,514 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in CSX by 12.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 122,334 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,829 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in CSX by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 195,872 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,361,000 after purchasing an additional 8,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in CSX by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 71,521 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,678,000 after buying an additional 10,276 shares during the period. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CSX Company Profile

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.