Truist Financial Corp Sells 15,069 Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its position in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 234,993 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 15,069 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $55,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,073,839 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $605,331,000 after purchasing an additional 26,686 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,112,261 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,385,434 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $469,764,000 after purchasing an additional 73,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,001,507 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $394,157,000 after purchasing an additional 49,224 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NSC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $277.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Norfolk Southern from $250.00 to $245.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.32.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NSC opened at $239.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $251.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.71. Norfolk Southern Co. has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66. The firm has a market cap of $54.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.58 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.82 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.96%.

Norfolk Southern 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.