Kitching Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 10,726 CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Kitching Partners LLC acquired a new position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 10,726 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000. CSX comprises 0.7% of Kitching Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of CSX by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 64,807,961 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,246,893,000 after acquiring an additional 9,914,656 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of CSX by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 40,353,078 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,399,104,000 after acquiring an additional 5,041,679 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP increased its stake in shares of CSX by 849.0% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 5,118,751 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $171,222,000 after acquiring an additional 4,579,344 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the second quarter worth $116,430,000. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the first quarter worth $126,089,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Stock Performance

CSX opened at $34.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. CSX Co. has a twelve month low of $29.03 and a twelve month high of $40.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.23.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The transportation company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. CSX had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 24.52%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CSX Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. CSX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of CSX in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CSX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.93.

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.