Saxon Interests Inc. Invests $234,000 in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Saxon Interests Inc. bought a new position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 991 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NSC. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the second quarter worth $25,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the third quarter worth $28,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 662.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 122 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the third quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NSC. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $233.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Bank of America upgraded Norfolk Southern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $204.00 to $248.00 in a report on Friday, December 1st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $215.00 to $207.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Norfolk Southern from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.38.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock traded up $3.15 during trading on Thursday, reaching $254.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 979,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,370,691. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $251.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.30. The firm has a market cap of $62.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.30. Norfolk Southern Co. has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results 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). Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 12.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.