Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Position in CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,350,289 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 113,530 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of CSX worth $47,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSX. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of CSX by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,250,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,840,117,000 after buying an additional 455,258 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CSX by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,906,826 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,407,087,000 after purchasing an additional 190,346 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CSX by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,656,931 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $851,404,000 after purchasing an additional 857,302 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CSX by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 17,133,857 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $573,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,204 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of CSX by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,612,862 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $539,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447,651 shares during the last quarter. 73.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of CSX from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of CSX from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of CSX from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on CSX from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on CSX from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.78.

CSX Stock Performance

CSX stock opened at $32.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.39. CSX Co. has a one year low of $31.74 and a one year high of $40.12. The firm has a market cap of $63.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.20.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The transportation company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.02). CSX had a return on equity of 28.92% and a net margin of 24.77%. The firm had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. CSX’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CSX Co. will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CSX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. CSX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.81%.

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.