Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Trims Stake in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. cut its position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,505 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in CSX were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $897,624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748,738 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in CSX by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,340,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $748,471,000 after buying an additional 739,411 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CSX by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,378,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $775,855,000 after acquiring an additional 470,640 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of CSX by 1.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in CSX by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 56,856 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Stock Down 0.5 %

CSX stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Monday, reaching $33.68. 8,992,889 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,273,807. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.15. CSX Co. has a 52-week low of $29.03 and a 52-week high of $40.12. The firm has a market cap of $65.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.19.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that CSX Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

CSX Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.