Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) Lifted to “Outperform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $270.00 price target on the railroad operator’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $236.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Norfolk Southern from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $261.78.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE NSC opened at $226.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.90. Norfolk Southern has a 1 year low of $183.09 and a 1 year high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.58 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern will post 11.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Claude E. Elkins sold 8,329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total transaction of $1,902,593.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Norfolk Southern

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NSC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $556,797,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,112,261 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 5.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,088,072 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 600.3% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,021,312 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $241,421,000 after purchasing an additional 875,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,976,871 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $389,305,000 after purchasing an additional 577,171 shares in the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.