Norfolk Southern (NSC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad company that provides rail transportation and related logistics services. As a Class I carrier, the company operates an extensive network across the eastern United States and offers scheduled freight service for a broad range of industries. Its core operations include long-haul and regional rail freight transportation, intermodal services that move containers and trailers between rail and other modes, and terminal and switching services that support efficient rail shipments for industrial and port customers.

The company transports a variety of commodities, serving sectors such as coal and energy, automotive and automotive parts, chemicals, agriculture, metals and construction materials, and consumer goods. Norfolk Southern’s service offering is oriented toward shippers and supply-chain partners, combining rail haulage with routing, scheduling and terminal operations to move bulk and unitized freight. Intermodal operations are a significant component of the business, linking inland markets with East Coast and Gulf ports and facilitating cross-border flows through interchange with other North American railways.

Norfolk Southern traces its lineage to several historic railroads that developed freight corridors across the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, and it expanded through a series of mergers and network acquisitions in the late 20th century, including participation in the division of Conrail assets in 1999. Today the company’s network connects many major industrial regions, ports and metropolitan markets in the eastern U.S. and integrates with the broader North American rail system via interchange with other carriers. Norfolk Southern is governed by a corporate board and senior management team responsible for operations, safety, regulatory compliance and strategic planning.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $316.07 to $321.07
• 50-Day Range: $278.29 to $321.81
• 52-Week Range: $236.37 to $323.37
• Volume: 1.09 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.10 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $71.46 billion
• P/E Ratio: 26.81
• Dividend Yield: 1.70%
• Price Target: $319.83
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Norfolk Southern Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Norfolk Southern scored higher than 48% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 81st out of 132 stocks in the transportation sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Norfolk Southern has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.26, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 6 buy ratings, 17 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Norfolk Southern is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Norfolk Southern has been the subject of 15 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.73%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Norfolk Southern are expected to grow by 10.73% in the coming year, from $12.11 to $13.41 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Norfolk Southern is 26.81, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.39.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Norfolk Southern is 26.81, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Transportation sector average P/E ratio of about 22.79.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Norfolk Southern has a PEG Ratio of 5.91. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Norfolk Southern has a P/B Ratio of 4.52. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.33% of the float of Norfolk Southern has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Norfolk Southern has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.19.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Norfolk Southern has recently increased by 12.65%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Norfolk Southern pays a meaningful dividend of 1.69%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Norfolk Southern does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Norfolk Southern is 45.49%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Norfolk Southern will have a dividend payout ratio of 40.27% next year. This indicates that Norfolk Southern will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.31

News Sentiment

Norfolk Southern has a news sentiment score of 0.31. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.46 average news sentiment score of Transportation companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 3 news articles for Norfolk Southern this week, compared to 8 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

28 people have searched for NSC on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 12% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 1 people have added Norfolk Southern to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -50% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Norfolk Southern insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.08% of the stock of Norfolk Southern is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

75.10% of the stock of Norfolk Southern is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 2/20 Dividend: 2/06/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 2/20 Dividend: 2/06/2026
• Dividend Payable: 2/20/2026
• Last Earnings: 4/24/2026
• Record date for 5/20 Dividend: 5/08/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 5/20 Dividend: 5/08/2026
• Today: 5/19/2026
• 19th Annual Global Transportation & Industrials Conference: 5/19/2026
• Dividend Payable: 5/20/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/04/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Transportation
• Industry: TRANS - RAIL
• Sub-Industry: Railroads
• Current Symbol: NYSE:NSC
• CIK: 702165
• Web: www.norfolksouthern.com
• Phone: (855) 667-3655
• Fax: 757-629-2361
• Employees: 19,300
• Year Founded: 1827

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Norfolk Southern: $319.83
• High Price Target: $360.00
• Low Price Target: $278.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +0.5%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.26
• Research Coverage: 23 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $11.87
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 26.81
• Forward P/E Ratio: 26.28
• P/E Growth: 5.91
• Net Income: $2.87 billion
• Net Margins: 21.91%
• Pretax Margin: 27.92%
• Return on Equity: 18.30%
• Return on Assets: 6.26%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.04
• Current Ratio: 0.91
• Quick Ratio: 0.81

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $12.18 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.87
• Cash Flow: $18.65 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 17.06
• Book Value: $70.37 per share
• Price / Book: 4.52

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 224,590,000
• Free Float: 224,414,000
• Market Cap: $71.46 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.30