Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Shares Sold by CVA Family Office LLC

CVA Family Office LLC lowered its position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 77.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 258 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 869 shares during the quarter. CVA Family Office LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $64,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,088,072 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 2.1% in the first 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. lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 1.0% during the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,789,436 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $813,554,000 after buying an additional 37,386 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 496,088 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Norfolk Southern by 157.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $735,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,135 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NSC stock opened at $250.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.66. Norfolk Southern Co. has a fifty-two week low of $183.09 and a fifty-two week high of $263.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 14.85% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $371,077.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Norfolk Southern news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total value of $88,529.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,488 shares in the company, valued at $371,077.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Alan H. Shaw sold 51,325 shares of Norfolk Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.98, for a total transaction of $13,138,173.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,970,819.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NSC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark raised 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. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $265.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.17.

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.