D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stock Position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 354,895 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,522 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in CSX were worth $12,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of CSX by 10.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,612,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $539,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447,651 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in CSX by 4.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,679,505 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $92,523,000 after buying an additional 109,422 shares during the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp increased its holdings in CSX by 0.6% during the third quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 55,534 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CSX during the third quarter worth about $149,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in CSX by 51.0% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 89,305 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,083,000 after buying an additional 30,150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSX. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of CSX from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.78.

CSX Price Performance

CSX stock opened at $36.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.59 and a 200-day moving average of $33.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. CSX Co. has a 12 month low of $31.65 and a 12 month high of $40.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). CSX had a net margin of 24.77% and a return on equity of 28.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. CSX’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CSX Co. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CSX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. CSX’s payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

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.