Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 55.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 178,850 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,551 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CSX were worth $5,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CSX by 1.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CSX by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,103,077 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $810,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,212 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CSX by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 299,536 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $780,194,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of CSX by 40.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,730,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on CSX from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus set a $32.00 target price on CSX in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Loop Capital cut CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.86.

CSX Stock Down 0.8%

CSX stock opened at $28.74 on Monday. CSX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.22 and a fifty-two week high of $37.10. 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 company has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.84.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.05). CSX had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 28.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Equities research analysts expect that CSX Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. CSX’s payout ratio is currently 31.14%.

About CSX

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.