Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on NSC. Argus upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $317.00 to $308.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $301.00 to $296.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Norfolk Southern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.89.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of NSC opened at $288.18 on Friday. Norfolk Southern has a 1 year low of $201.63 and a 1 year high of $319.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $70.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $299.90 and a 200-day moving average of $293.00.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.03 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 23.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.35%.

Institutional Trading of Norfolk Southern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NSC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,825,837 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $6,012,836,000 after purchasing an additional 272,651 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,710,549 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,803,630,000 after purchasing an additional 379,819 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,878,029 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,401,797,000 after purchasing an additional 36,205 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.6% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,182,921 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,070,702,000 after purchasing an additional 184,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,084,701,000. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

About Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad company that provides rail transportation and related logistics services. As a Class I carrier, the company operates an extensive network across the eastern United States and offers scheduled freight service for a broad range of industries. Its core operations include long-haul and regional rail freight transportation, intermodal services that move containers and trailers between rail and other modes, and terminal and switching services that support efficient rail shipments for industrial and port customers.

The company transports a variety of commodities, serving sectors such as coal and energy, automotive and automotive parts, chemicals, agriculture, metals and construction materials, and consumer goods.