Citigroup Initiates Coverage on CSX (NASDAQ:CSX)

Equities research analysts at Citigroup started coverage on shares of CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.63% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CSX. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of CSX from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of CSX in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of CSX in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of CSX in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of CSX from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.19.

CSX Stock Performance

CSX opened at $34.53 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.05. CSX has a 1-year low of $29.03 and a 1-year high of $40.12. The company has a market cap of $67.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The transportation company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. CSX had a return on equity of 29.11% and a net margin of 24.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts expect that CSX will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CSX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of CSX by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 64,807,961 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,246,893,000 after purchasing an additional 9,914,656 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 shares of CSX in the second quarter worth approximately $116,430,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of CSX in the first quarter worth approximately $126,089,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 2,126,668 shares during the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CSX Company Profile

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.