CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Short Interest Update

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 28,870,000 shares, an increase of 21.3% from the November 15th total of 23,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CSX

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Interval Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of CSX by 849.0% during the 2nd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in CSX by 318.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,270,966 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $112,946,000 after purchasing an additional 2,489,329 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in CSX by 3,243.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 2,192,246 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,331,000 after buying an additional 2,126,668 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of CSX by 38.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,749,827 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $225,917,000 after buying an additional 1,884,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of CSX by 10.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,612,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $539,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,447,651 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of CSX stock opened at $33.24 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.09. CSX has a twelve month low of $31.74 and a twelve month high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The transportation company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). CSX had a return on equity of 28.92% and a net margin of 24.77%. The firm had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CSX will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSX. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price target on CSX from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CSX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.78.

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.