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

CSX Co. (NASDAQ:CSX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 1.58%. This is a boost 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 payout ratio of 22.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 NASDAQ:CSX opened at $32.92 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $63.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. CSX has a twelve month low of $31.43 and a twelve month high of $40.12.

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). CSX had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 28.15%. Research analysts predict that CSX will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CSX. Loop Capital lowered shares of CSX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised CSX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of CSX in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on CSX from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.