Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Stock Position Lowered by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,447 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Norfolk Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Norfolk Southern during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NSC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $276.00 to $274.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $272.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.68.

Insider Activity at Norfolk Southern

In other news, Director Sameh Fahmy purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $255.00 per share, for a total transaction of $255,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,550,000. This represents a 11.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Alan H. Shaw sold 51,325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.98, for a total value of $13,138,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,970,819.10. This represents a 59.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:NSC opened at $264.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $253.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.58. Norfolk Southern Co. has a fifty-two week low of $206.71 and a fifty-two week high of $277.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The railroad operator reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 20.25% and a net margin of 19.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.82 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.70%.

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.