Commerce Bank Sells 876 Shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Commerce Bank cut its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 315,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 876 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in CSX were worth $10,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in CSX by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,191,044 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $897,624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,738 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in CSX by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,340,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $748,471,000 after buying an additional 739,411 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in CSX by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,378,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $775,855,000 after acquiring an additional 470,640 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CSX in the fourth quarter worth about $757,276,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of CSX by 1.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,307,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $655,198,000 after purchasing an additional 303,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CSX. UBS Group decreased their price objective on CSX from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

CSX Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSX traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.78. 8,854,602 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,757,137. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.94. CSX Co. has a 52 week low of $29.03 and a 52 week high of $40.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $66.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.19.

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. As a group, research analysts forecast that CSX Co. will post 1.96 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is 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.