Savant Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,024 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 714 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in CSX were worth $2,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Value Partners Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CSX in the third quarter valued at about $1,172,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in CSX by 3.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CSX by 3,241.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 235,304 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,158,000 after purchasing an additional 228,263 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in CSX by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 723,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,078,000 after purchasing an additional 34,730 shares during the period. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CSX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,279,000. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CSX. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of CSX from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on CSX from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CSX from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

CSX Price Performance

CSX stock opened at $33.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. CSX Co. has a 12-month low of $29.03 and a 12-month high of $40.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. CSX had a return on equity of 29.58% and a net margin of 24.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CSX Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is an increase from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. 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.