MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 17,032 Shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 504,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 17,032 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CSX were worth $17,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of CSX by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 93,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,240,000 after acquiring an additional 6,186 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in CSX by 8.2% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 221,010 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,631,000 after purchasing an additional 16,772 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Partners Group Holding AG increased its stake in shares of CSX by 67.5% in the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,218,143 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,062,000 after purchasing an additional 490,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of CSX by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 354,895 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,255,000 after buying an additional 20,522 shares in the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on CSX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.78.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of CSX stock opened at $36.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.54 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.23. CSX Co. has a one year low of $31.65 and a one year high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that CSX Co. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

CSX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is 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.