Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) Stock Price

Key Points

• Bank of America lowered its CSX price target from $56 to $55 while maintaining a “buy” rating, implying 16.27% potential upside from the stock’s $47.30 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: CSX has 18 Buy, 7 Hold, and 1 Sell rating, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.28.
• CSX exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted earnings of $0.54 per share and revenue of $3.94 billion, up 10.1% year over year; however, two senior executives recently sold shares.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Bank of America from $56.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the transportation company's stock. Bank of America's price target indicates a potential upside of 16.27% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CSX. Morgan Stanley set a $32.00 target price on shares of CSX and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $54.00 price target on shares of CSX in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $54.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of CSX in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens assumed coverage on CSX in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CSX from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.28.

CSX Trading Down 1.2%

CSX stock traded down $0.59 on Friday, hitting $47.30. 7,661,684 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,607,869. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.21. CSX has a twelve month low of $32.84 and a twelve month high of $53.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $50.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.32.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. CSX had a net margin of 22.21% and a return on equity of 24.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. CSX's revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that CSX will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CSX

In related news, SVP Michael S. Burns sold 13,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.68, for a total value of $684,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 59,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,141,993.24. This trade represents a 17.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Angela C. Williams sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.29, for a total value of $1,598,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,437 shares in the company, valued at $556,187.73. The trade was a 74.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CSX

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in CSX during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,655,277,000. XXEC Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CSX in the second quarter valued at about $765,595,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of CSX during the second quarter worth about $1,598,962,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of CSX during the second quarter worth about $950,325,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of CSX during the second quarter worth about $747,001,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.57% of the company's stock.

About CSX

CSX Corporation NASDAQ: CSX is a transportation company that operates one of the largest rail networks in the eastern United States. Through its CSX Transportation subsidiary, the company provides rail freight transportation and logistics services for manufacturers, distributors, utilities, agricultural businesses and other commercial customers.

CSX transports a broad range of products, including chemicals, agricultural and food products, minerals, forest products, metals, automobiles and consumer goods.

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