Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Receives $255.18 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $257.41.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NSC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Norfolk Southern from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut Norfolk Southern from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $233.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley cut Norfolk Southern from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norfolk Southern

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NSC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 95,518.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,028,232 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $746,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,025,065 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $556,797,000. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,233,372 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $1,946,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810,658 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 86.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,724,821 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $671,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 69.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,723,398 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $536,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112,261 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NSC traded up $3.13 on Tuesday, reaching $253.39. 1,295,179 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,310,469. The company's 50-day moving average price is $253.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.62. Norfolk Southern has a fifty-two week low of $183.09 and a fifty-two week high of $263.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.87 by ($0.04). Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern will post 12.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.33%.

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.