CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) Shares Purchased by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) by 34.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,919,204 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 487,411 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in CSX were worth $56,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in CSX by 21.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,383,830 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $835,336,000 after purchasing an additional 5,033,743 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in CSX by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 21,124,807 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $681,696,000 after purchasing an additional 707,934 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in CSX by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,097,789 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $680,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,929 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in CSX by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 20,856,567 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $673,025,000 after purchasing an additional 9,863,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in CSX by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,886,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $544,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215,517 shares during the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSX shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of CSX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Argus set a $32.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.00.

CSX Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of CSX stock opened at $35.43 on Friday. CSX Corporation has a 52-week low of $26.22 and a 52-week high of $37.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.56 and a 200 day moving average of $31.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $66.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.25.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.02. CSX had a net margin of 21.92% and a return on equity of 25.48%. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that CSX Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. CSX’s payout ratio is currently 32.10%.

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.