Investment House LLC Decreases Holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Investment House LLC lowered its position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,674 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 509 shares during the quarter. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $6,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 11,334 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Norfolk Southern by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,255 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC increased its position in Norfolk Southern by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC now owns 7,654 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 9,986 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on NSC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Norfolk Southern from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $272.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $262.32.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NSC traded up $0.99 on Monday, reaching $240.93. 665,637 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,283,337. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $251.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.92. Norfolk Southern Co. has a fifty-two week low of $183.09 and a fifty-two week high of $263.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.09). Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.32 EPS. Norfolk Southern’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.96%.

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.