Everpar Advisors LLC Invests $677,000 in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 19,539 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in CSX by 416.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,070,296 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $155,912,000 after buying an additional 4,089,150 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of CSX by 10.4% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,191,044 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $897,624,000 after buying an additional 2,748,738 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CSX by 68.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,234,797 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $160,970,000 after buying an additional 2,119,965 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of CSX by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,160,597 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $220,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609,942 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of CSX by 43.8% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,752,117 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $146,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,446,685 shares in the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on CSX from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of CSX in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on CSX from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

CSX Stock Performance

CSX stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.96. 9,546,209 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,242,812. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.19. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $36.06 and its 200-day moving average is $34.64. CSX Co. has a 12-month low of $29.03 and a 12-month high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CSX Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. CSX’s payout ratio is currently 26.37%.

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.