Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) Shares Bought by Manning & Napier Advisors LLC

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 369.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 279,022 shares of the railroad operator's stock after purchasing an additional 219,576 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Norfolk Southern worth $66,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,089,164 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $4,714,927,000 after purchasing an additional 139,485 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 valued at $2,020,318,000 after purchasing an additional 918,559 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,694,573 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $1,098,472,000 after buying an additional 113,648 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,020,392 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $945,385,000 after buying an additional 580,293 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,968,582 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $931,426,000 after buying an additional 75,865 shares during the period. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $293.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $284.00 to $269.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $265.00 to $247.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $267.24.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NSC traded up $3.55 during trading on Monday, reaching $256.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,035,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,241,459. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 1-year low of $201.63 and a 1-year high of $277.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $236.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.32. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The railroad operator reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.72 by ($0.03). Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 27.40% and a return on equity of 19.65%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.49 EPS. Norfolk Southern's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.89%.

Norfolk Southern 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.