M&G Plc Boosts Holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

M&G Plc grew its holdings in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,677,324 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,062 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in CSX were worth $128,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Interval Partners LP lifted its stake in CSX by 849.0% in the second 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 last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CSX during the second quarter worth approximately $116,430,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in CSX by 318.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,270,966 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $112,946,000 after purchasing an additional 2,489,329 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,126,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,884,998 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.57% of the company’s stock.

CSX Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSX opened at $36.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.19. CSX Co. has a 1-year low of $30.00 and a 1-year high of $40.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $3.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. CSX had a return on equity of 28.92% and a net margin of 24.77%. CSX’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CSX Co. will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

CSX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. CSX’s payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of CSX from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, CSX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.61.

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.