Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.35

Key Points

• Norfolk Southern Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $1.35 per share, set to be paid on November 20th to stockholders of record as of November 7th, representing a dividend yield of 1.9%.
• The company reported earnings of $3.29 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and indicating a net margin of 27.51%.
• Norfolk Southern has a dividend payout ratio of 37.8%, suggesting that its dividends are well-covered by its earnings, with expectations of continued earnings growth.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.35 per share by the railroad operator on Thursday, November 20th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th.

Norfolk Southern has a dividend payout ratio of 37.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Norfolk Southern to earn $14.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.7%.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $288.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $285.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $261.16. Norfolk Southern has a twelve month low of $201.63 and a twelve month high of $302.24. The firm has a market cap of $64.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.33.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.24 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 27.51% and a return on equity of 19.35%. Norfolk Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norfolk Southern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,561,273 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $5,263,069,000 after purchasing an additional 239,914 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 31.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,319,010 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $2,680,910,000 after buying an additional 2,710,930 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,859,121 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $2,779,609,000 after buying an additional 192,567 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,822,075 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $1,228,064,000 after buying an additional 36,362 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.6% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,182,921 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $1,070,702,000 after buying an additional 184,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company's stock.

About Norfolk Southern

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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