Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Price Target to $53.00

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) had its price objective trimmed by Royal Bank Of Canada from $54.00 to $53.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

CSX has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on CSX from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Argus set a $56.00 price objective on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 price objective on shares of CSX and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of CSX from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CSX from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.24.

CSX Stock Performance

CSX stock opened at $46.78 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.49. CSX has a 1-year low of $33.58 and a 1-year high of $53.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $86.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.21.

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

CSX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. CSX’s payout ratio is currently 32.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Angela C. Williams sold 30,000 shares of CSX stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.29, for a total value of $1,598,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,187.73. This trade represents a 74.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael S. Burns sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.68, for a total transaction of $684,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 59,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,141,993.24. This trade represents a 17.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CSX in the second quarter worth approximately $693,000. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of CSX during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,145,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of CSX during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,609,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new stake in CSX during the second quarter worth $6,598,000. Finally, First National Bank of Omaha bought a new stake in CSX during the second quarter worth $6,248,000. 73.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CSX Company Profile

CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) is a transportation company that operates one of the largest rail networks in the eastern United States. Through its CSX Transportation subsidiary, the company provides rail freight transportation and logistics services for manufacturers, distributors, utilities, agricultural businesses and other commercial customers.

CSX transports a broad range of products, including chemicals, agricultural and food products, minerals, forest products, metals, automobiles and consumer goods.