Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $26.88 Million Stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC)

Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 1,192.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,543 shares of the railroad operator's stock after purchasing an additional 105,683 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel owned approximately 0.05% of Norfolk Southern worth $26,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $547,575,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 25,555.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 989,796 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $234,433,000 after acquiring an additional 985,938 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,608,080 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $2,020,318,000 after acquiring an additional 918,559 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 293.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 671,680 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $157,643,000 after acquiring an additional 501,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,073,933 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $721,452,000 after acquiring an additional 371,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NSC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $284.00 to $269.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $250.00) on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.50.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NSC traded up $4.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $282.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,530,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,920. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $256.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.31. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 12 month low of $201.63 and a 12 month high of $288.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The railroad operator reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.72 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 27.40%. The business's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Norfolk Southern's payout ratio is 36.89%.

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.