Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stock Holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 435,519 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 18,132 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in CSX were worth $15,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of CSX by 10.4% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,191,044 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $897,624,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748,738 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of CSX by 3.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,340,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $748,471,000 after acquiring an additional 739,411 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of CSX by 1.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,307,242 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $655,198,000 after acquiring an additional 303,684 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CSX by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,082,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $340,792,000 after acquiring an additional 56,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S increased its position in shares of CSX by 19.8% in the third quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 8,383,233 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $257,785,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,086 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ CSX opened at $33.22 on Wednesday. CSX Co. has a 12 month low of $29.03 and a 12 month high of $40.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $64.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.54.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. CSX had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 29.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CSX Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.12 dividend. This is an increase from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CSX. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of CSX from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CSX has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

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.