Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Ballentine Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 18.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,807 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 10,419 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in CSX were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSX. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in CSX by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,041,902 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $62,788,000 after acquiring an additional 102,159 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 1.8% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 379,538 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,671,000 after buying an additional 6,703 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 4.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 911,302 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,023,000 after buying an additional 39,031 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 251.3% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 46,806 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 33,482 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 11.8% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 33,474 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSX. Susquehanna upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of CSX from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.82.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of CSX traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $33.51. 470,707 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,838,601. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.14. CSX Co. has a 52-week low of $29.03 and a 52-week high of $40.12.

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

CSX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.