Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 15,230 Shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX)

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in CSX Corporation by 44.4%, selling 15,230 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with 19,089 shares valued at $562,000.
• CSX reported earnings of $0.44 per share for its recent quarter, beating analysts' estimates of $0.42, despite a 3.5% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, reflecting a 1.46% yield, with the dividend payable on September 15th.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX - Free Report) by 44.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,089 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 15,230 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in CSX were worth $562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in CSX by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,633,333 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,339,555,000 after purchasing an additional 726,507 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of CSX by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,383,830 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $835,336,000 after purchasing an additional 5,033,743 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of CSX by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 25,103,077 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $810,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977,212 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of CSX by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 21,124,807 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $681,696,000 after acquiring an additional 707,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $680,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,929 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company's stock.

CSX Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSX traded down $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.06. The company had a trading volume of 12,628,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,052,279. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.77. CSX Corporation has a 12 month low of $26.22 and a 12 month high of $37.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.23.

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

CSX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued 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 payout ratio is presently 32.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CSX from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on CSX from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on CSX from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Baird R W raised CSX to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $36.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of CSX in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CSX has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.00.

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.