CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. CSX had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 29.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

CSX Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSX opened at $34.34 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.35. CSX has a 52-week low of $29.03 and a 52-week high of $40.12. The firm has a market cap of $67.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

CSX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.12 dividend. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of CSX from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of CSX from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.72.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CSX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in CSX by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 58,100,864 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,799,965,000 after acquiring an additional 470,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CSX by 1.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,236,265 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,172,727,000 after acquiring an additional 690,267 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in CSX by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 23,385,735 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $810,784,000 after acquiring an additional 4,850,783 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in CSX by 101,926.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in CSX by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,965,374 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $796,208,000 after acquiring an additional 1,477,816 shares during the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.