Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Takes $272,000 Position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of CSX by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,250,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,840,117,000 after buying an additional 455,258 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CSX by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,906,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,407,087,000 after acquiring an additional 190,346 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in CSX by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,956,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $805,345,000 after acquiring an additional 299,536 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in CSX by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,350,087 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $753,507,000 after acquiring an additional 6,730,316 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,447,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of CSX from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CSX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.00.

CSX Price Performance

CSX opened at $30.01 on Friday. CSX Co. has a one year low of $28.98 and a one year high of $38.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.25.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). CSX had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 28.15%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CSX Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.05%.

CSX 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.