Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Stock Position Increased by Umpqua Bank

Umpqua Bank raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 9.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,555 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Norfolk Southern by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,623,690 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $5,001,490,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,072 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 valued at $1,525,699,000 after buying an additional 124,362 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,752,050 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $956,285,000 after buying an additional 347,852 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 157.1% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $735,749,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,135 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $556,797,000. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Norfolk Southern

In other news, Director Sameh Fahmy purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,534,750. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Sameh Fahmy bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,534,750. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total transaction of $88,529.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $371,077.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought 4,700 shares of company stock worth $1,105,065 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NSC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 report on Monday, July 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $251.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.24.

Norfolk Southern Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NSC opened at $250.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.63. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $183.09 and a 52 week high of $263.66. The company has a market cap of $56.48 billion, a PE ratio of 40.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.31.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 86.96%.

About Norfolk Southern

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.