Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 82.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,842 shares of the railroad operator's stock after selling 94,448 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $4,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 95,518.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,028,232 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $746,217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,025,065 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $537,007,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,724,821 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $671,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,666 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 69.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,723,398 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $536,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,546,214 shares of the railroad operator's stock worth $627,438,000 after acquiring an additional 638,384 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $236.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $262.74.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NSC stock traded up $0.78 on Thursday, hitting $240.12. The stock had a trading volume of 922,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,275,277. The business has a 50 day moving average of $253.23 and a 200 day moving average of $230.45. The stock has a market cap of $59.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12-month low of $183.09 and a 12-month high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.09 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.98 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.33%.

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.