Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Stake Raised by Security National Bank of SO Dak

Security National Bank of SO Dak boosted its holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,507 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,623,690 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $5,001,490,000 after buying an additional 1,088,072 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,986,180 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,525,699,000 after buying an additional 124,362 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,789,436 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $813,554,000 after buying an additional 37,386 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,356,590 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $720,626,000 after buying an additional 496,088 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 157.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $735,749,000 after buying an additional 1,766,135 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Norfolk Southern

In other news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total transaction of $88,529.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,488 shares in the company, valued at $371,077.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total value of $88,529.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,488 shares in the company, valued at $371,077.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sameh Fahmy bought 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $245.15 per share, with a total value of $171,605.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,887,655. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NSC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $265.00 to $276.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.89.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.4 %

NSC opened at $244.34 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $244.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.67. Norfolk Southern Co. has a twelve month low of $183.09 and a twelve month high of $263.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $55.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.31.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 14.85%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.8 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.