Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,517 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 3,339 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in CSX were worth $695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in CSX by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 455,258 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CSX by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,633,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,339,555,000 after purchasing an additional 726,507 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,956,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $805,345,000 after buying an additional 299,536 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CSX during the fourth quarter worth about $780,194,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 worth $753,507,000 after buying an additional 6,730,316 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of CSX from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down previously from $38.00) on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.20.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of CSX stock opened at $27.21 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $31.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.22. CSX Co. has a 52-week low of $26.95 and a 52-week high of $37.10.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CSX Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.05%.

CSX Company 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.