Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) PT Raised to $253.00 at TD Cowen

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) had its price objective lifted by TD Cowen from $251.00 to $253.00 in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a hold rating on the railroad operator’s stock.

NSC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Norfolk Southern from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $277.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a buy rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $264.24.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $247.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.76. Norfolk Southern has a 52 week low of $183.09 and a 52 week high of $263.66. The company has a market capitalization of $55.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 14.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Norfolk Southern will post 11.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 86.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Claude E. Elkins sold 8,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $1,902,593.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Sameh Fahmy acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,750. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Claude E. Elkins sold 8,329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $1,902,593.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,623,690 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $5,001,490,000 after buying an additional 1,088,072 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 2.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,986,180 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,525,699,000 after buying an additional 124,362 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 10.2% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,752,050 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $956,285,000 after buying an additional 347,852 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 157.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $735,749,000 after buying an additional 1,766,135 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter worth $556,797,000. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Company Profile

Norfolk Southern Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods in the United States. The company transports agriculture, forest, and consumer products comprising soybeans, wheat, corn, fertilizers, livestock and poultry feed, food products, food oils, flour, sweeteners, ethanol, lumber and wood products, pulp board and paper products, wood fibers, wood pulp, beverages, and canned goods; chemicals consist of sulfur and related chemicals, petroleum products comprising crude oil, chlorine and bleaching compounds, plastics, rubber, industrial chemicals, chemical wastes, sand, and natural gas liquids; metals and construction materials, such as steel, aluminum products, machinery, scrap metals, cement, aggregates, minerals, clay, transportation equipment, and military-related products; and automotive, including finished motor vehicles and automotive parts, as well as coal.