Foster & Motley Inc. Takes Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,085 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NSC. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $536,319,000 after buying an additional 1,112,261 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,976,871 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $389,305,000 after purchasing an additional 577,171 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $103,223,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 23,585.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 351,261 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $83,031,000 after purchasing an additional 349,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,629,330 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,699,371,000 after purchasing an additional 264,031 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NSC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.74.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $236.14 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.12. Norfolk Southern Co. has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released 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). Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.93 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s 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.