Wealthspire Advisors LLC Buys 4,419 Shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 85.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,616 shares of the railroad operator's stock after purchasing an additional 4,419 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC's holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 25,555.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 989,796 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $234,433,000 after purchasing an additional 985,938 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 11.9% in 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 buying an additional 918,559 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 293.7% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 671,680 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $157,643,000 after buying an additional 501,053 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new position in Norfolk Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $110,209,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Norfolk Southern by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,073,933 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $721,452,000 after buying an additional 371,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NSC. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W raised Norfolk Southern to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Susquehanna reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. TD Cowen upgraded Norfolk Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $285.15.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $284.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $262.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.44. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a one year low of $201.63 and a one year high of $288.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.31.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.24 by $0.05. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 27.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.49%.

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.

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