Short Interest in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Rises By 21.3%

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 28,870,000 shares, a growth of 21.3% from the November 15th total of 23,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of CSX in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its position in CSX by 177.8% in the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 750 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CSX in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CSX in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in CSX during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on CSX from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on CSX from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on CSX from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.78.

CSX Price Performance

Shares of CSX stock opened at $33.24 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. CSX has a 12-month low of $31.74 and a 12-month high of $40.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.77 and a 200-day moving average of $34.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.20.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. CSX had a net margin of 24.77% and a return on equity of 28.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CSX will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. CSX’s payout ratio is 25.81%.

CSX Company 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.