Montag A & Associates Inc. Acquires 90 Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,929 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $1,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NSC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,682 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $8,012,000 after buying an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 20,590 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $3,962,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,421 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $674,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 9,732 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,917,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $863,000. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $302.00 to $294.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays upgraded Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.32.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NSC traded down $5.79 during trading on Thursday, hitting $226.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,717,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,363,551. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.40. Norfolk Southern Co. has a twelve month low of $183.09 and a twelve month high of $263.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 11.76%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 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.