Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 400,625 CSX Corporation $CSX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 400,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,042,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CSX in the second quarter worth about $7,655,277,000. XXEC Inc. purchased a new stake in CSX during the 2nd quarter valued at about $765,595,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in CSX in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,598,962,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in CSX in the 2nd quarter valued at about $950,325,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in CSX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $747,001,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSX opened at $51.54 on Friday. CSX Corporation has a 52 week low of $31.80 and a 52 week high of $53.60. The company has a market cap of $95.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.53.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. CSX had a return on equity of 24.98% and a net margin of 22.21%.CSX’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CSX Corporation will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CSX. Argus set a $56.00 target price on CSX in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 price objective on CSX and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CSX from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price (up from $49.00) on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on CSX from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.31.

Insider Activity

In other CSX news, CFO Kevin S. Boone sold 136,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.70, for a total transaction of $6,384,263.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 208,622 shares in the company, valued at $9,742,647.40. The trade was a 39.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John J. Zillmer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.45, for a total transaction of $464,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 353,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,430,015.30. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 189,708 shares of company stock valued at $9,132,304 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CSX Profile

CSX Corporation is a leading North American transportation company that provides rail-based freight services and supply-chain solutions. Its operating subsidiary, CSX Transportation, moves a wide range of goods for customers across multiple industries, using a combination of long-haul rail service, intermodal operations and terminal and yard services. The company focuses on delivering efficient, reliable freight transportation between major production centers, consumption markets and port gateways.

CSX’s freight portfolio includes intermodal containers and trailers, bulk commodities, industrial products and specialized unit trains.