Equitable Holdings Inc. Purchases New Position in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 7,224 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,273,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,033,549,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,084,701,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $978,977,000. Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $826,128,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $503,093,000. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NSC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $320.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $316.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $348.00.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.2%

NSC stock opened at $348.67 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $332.87 and a 200 day moving average of $315.01. The firm has a market cap of $78.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.27. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a twelve month low of $268.23 and a twelve month high of $358.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The railroad operator reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 18.21% and a net margin of 21.02%.The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is currently 46.08%.

Norfolk Southern Profile

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.