Danske Bank A S Raises Stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Key Points

• Danske Bank A S raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 14.7% in Q4 to 108,723 shares (worth $31.39M), and institutional investors now own about 75.10% of the company.
• Wall Street’s consensus rating is a Hold with a consensus target price of $320.67, based on 6 Buy and 17 Hold analyst recommendations.
• Norfolk Southern beat Q1 EPS estimates ($2.65 vs. $2.49) while missing revenue slightly, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.35 (ex-dividend May 8), implying a ~1.7% yield.

Danske Bank A S raised its position in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,723 shares of the railroad operator's stock after acquiring an additional 13,937 shares during the quarter. Danske Bank A S's holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $31,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,825,837 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $6,012,836,000 after acquiring an additional 272,651 shares during the last quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $826,128,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,179,610 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $654,757,000 after buying an additional 118,697 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,744,074 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $523,937,000 after buying an additional 76,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 545.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,306,203 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $392,396,000 after buying an additional 1,103,748 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $322.00 to $313.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Argus upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "hold" rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $320.67.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.1%

NSC stock opened at $316.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $299.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.35. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 12 month low of $218.05 and a 12 month high of $323.37. The company has a market cap of $71.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.16. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 18.30%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Norfolk Southern's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 12.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio is 45.49%.

Norfolk Southern Profile

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad company that provides rail transportation and related logistics services. As a Class I carrier, the company operates an extensive network across the eastern United States and offers scheduled freight service for a broad range of industries. Its core operations include long-haul and regional rail freight transportation, intermodal services that move containers and trailers between rail and other modes, and terminal and switching services that support efficient rail shipments for industrial and port customers.

The company transports a variety of commodities, serving sectors such as coal and energy, automotive and automotive parts, chemicals, agriculture, metals and construction materials, and consumer goods.

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