CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Increases Dividend to $0.13 Per Share

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the transportation company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

CSX has increased its dividend by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. CSX has a payout ratio of 22.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CSX to earn $2.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.7%.

CSX Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSX opened at $33.10 on Friday. CSX has a 12-month low of $31.43 and a 12-month high of $40.12. The company has a market capitalization of $63.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.49, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). CSX had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 28.15%. As a group, analysts forecast that CSX will post 1.86 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CSX shares. Loop Capital downgraded CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $34.00 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on CSX from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on CSX from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.16.

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.