CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Short Interest Update

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 25,090,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the March 15th total of 23,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSX. Bornite Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of CSX during the first quarter worth $14,980,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in CSX by 6.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,158,544 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $230,637,000 after purchasing an additional 347,514 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in CSX by 12.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 122,334 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,829 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in CSX by 4.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 195,872 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,361,000 after purchasing an additional 8,488 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in CSX by 16.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 71,521 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,678,000 after purchasing an additional 10,276 shares during the period. 73.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CSX. Raymond James boosted their price target on CSX from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Susquehanna upped their target price on CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CSX from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of CSX in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.28.

CSX Price Performance

CSX stock traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.31. 4,582,834 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,652,502. The company has a market cap of $67.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.04 and its 200 day moving average is $34.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.91. CSX has a 12-month low of $29.03 and a 12-month high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. CSX had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 25.35%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. CSX’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that CSX will post 1.97 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.09%.

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.