Isthmus Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 12,050 CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,050 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $389,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of CSX by 40.5% during 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 buying an additional 6,730,316 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CSX during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,959,000. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CSX during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,301,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of CSX by 10.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,612,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $539,112,000 after buying an additional 1,447,651 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of CSX by 616.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,114,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,966,000 after buying an additional 958,957 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Price Performance

CSX opened at $30.65 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.61. The firm has a market cap of $58.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.25. CSX Co. has a twelve month low of $30.55 and a twelve month high of $38.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

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

CSX Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of CSX in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital lowered shares of CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price target (down previously from $38.00) on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of CSX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.00.

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.