Skylands Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Skylands Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 48.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,450 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,500 shares during the quarter. CSX makes up approximately 1.0% of Skylands Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in CSX were worth $6,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in shares of CSX by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 19,038 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in CSX by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 19,037 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the period. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the 4th quarter valued at $296,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in CSX by 120.5% during the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 13,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paradigm Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CSX in the fourth quarter valued at $664,000. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on CSX from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of CSX from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

CSX Price Performance

CSX stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,320,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,287,917. CSX Co. has a twelve month low of $29.03 and a twelve month high of $40.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

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

CSX Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. 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.