Strs Ohio Sells 3,654 Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Strs Ohio decreased its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,984 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 3,654 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $15,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NSC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Norfolk Southern by 95,518.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,028,232 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $746,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,025,065 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Norfolk Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $537,007,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Norfolk Southern by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,724,821 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $671,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,666 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Norfolk Southern by 69.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,723,398 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $536,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,546,214 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $627,438,000 after acquiring an additional 638,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NSC has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group raised Norfolk Southern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $238.00 to $302.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TheStreet raised Norfolk Southern from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays raised Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Norfolk Southern from $236.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $262.33.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NYSE:NSC opened at $242.90 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.32. The stock has a market cap of $59.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.30. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $183.09 and a 52 week high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 67.33%.

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.