Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $659,000 Stock Holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,007 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in CSX were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in CSX by 10.4% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,191,044 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $897,624,000 after buying an additional 2,748,738 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in CSX by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,340,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $748,471,000 after purchasing an additional 739,411 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in CSX by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,378,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $775,855,000 after purchasing an additional 470,640 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in CSX by 1.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,307,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $655,198,000 after purchasing an additional 303,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,082,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $340,792,000 after purchasing an additional 56,856 shares during the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CSX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CSX from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on CSX from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

CSX Price Performance

Shares of CSX opened at $34.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.64. CSX Co. has a 52-week low of $29.03 and a 52-week high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.66 billion. CSX had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 29.58%. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CSX Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.37%.

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.