Commerce Bank Reduces Holdings in CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank reduced its stake in CSX Corporation by 4.8%, owning 187,837 shares worth approximately $5.53 million after selling 9,466 shares in the first quarter.
• Recent analyst upgrades for CSX include a buy rating from Bank of America with a price target increase to $42, alongside other firms boosting targets to $38.
• CSX reported earnings of $0.44 per share for its latest quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 3.5%.

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 187,837 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 9,466 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in CSX were worth $5,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CSX. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of CSX by 21.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,383,830 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $835,336,000 after buying an additional 5,033,743 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in CSX by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,103,077 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $810,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,212 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in CSX by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 21,124,807 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $681,696,000 after purchasing an additional 707,934 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of CSX by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 21,097,789 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $680,826,000 after buying an additional 2,550,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of CSX by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 20,856,567 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $673,025,000 after buying an additional 9,863,587 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CSX shares. Susquehanna reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of CSX in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised CSX from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Argus set a $32.00 price objective on CSX in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on CSX from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CSX has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.00.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSX traded down $0.18 on Thursday, reaching $35.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,743,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,926,689. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.25. CSX Corporation has a 52-week low of $26.22 and a 52-week high of $37.10. The stock's 50-day moving average is $33.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.57 billion. CSX had a return on equity of 25.48% and a net margin of 21.92%. The company's revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CSX Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. CSX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.10%.

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.