Cohen & Steers Inc. Boosts Stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX - Free Report) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,274,308 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 118,859 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned about 0.33% of CSX worth $202,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CSX in the fourth quarter valued at about $780,194,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of CSX by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,350,087 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $753,507,000 after purchasing an additional 6,730,316 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 471.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 6,748,661 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $217,808,000 after purchasing an additional 5,568,624 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in CSX by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,103,077 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $810,076,000 after buying an additional 2,977,212 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in CSX in the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,959,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company's stock.

CSX Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of CSX traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.64. 21,437,293 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,674,381. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $52.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.23. The stock's 50-day moving average is $30.07 and its 200-day moving average is $32.50. CSX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.22 and a fifty-two week high of $37.10.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. CSX had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 28.15%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CSX Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This is a boost from CSX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. CSX's payout ratio is presently 31.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on CSX from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on CSX from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of CSX from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.95.

CSX 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.