CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.13 Per Share

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the transportation company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. This is a positive change from CSX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

CSX has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.7% annually over the last three years. CSX has a dividend payout ratio of 22.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of CSX stock traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.92. 7,723,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,376,115. CSX has a 52 week low of $31.43 and a 52 week high of $40.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.84. The firm has a market cap of $63.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.23.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.42 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts forecast that CSX will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CSX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of CSX from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on CSX from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price target (down from $38.00) on shares of CSX in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.