Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $85.96 Million in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,663,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,959,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.14% of CSX as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSX. State Street Corp lifted its position in CSX by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 455,258 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CSX by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,906,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,407,087,000 after acquiring an additional 190,346 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in CSX by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,956,467 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $805,345,000 after acquiring an additional 299,536 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,730,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,447,651 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of CSX in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

CSX Stock Up 1.1 %

CSX stock opened at $31.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $59.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.48 and its 200 day moving average is $33.62. CSX Co. has a one year low of $30.55 and a one year high of $38.35.

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

CSX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.13 dividend. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.05%.

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.