Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Shares Purchased by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,396 shares of the railroad operator's stock after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $20,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NSC. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $144,000. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 84,364 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $20,965,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,252 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 2,534 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,076 shares of the railroad operator's stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NSC. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $289.00 to $309.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital cut shares of Norfolk Southern from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $289.00 to $256.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $276.00 to $274.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.11.

Insider Activity at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Gilbert H. Lamphere bought 607 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $259.86 per share, with a total value of $157,735.02. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $646,271.82. This represents a 32.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sameh Fahmy purchased 350 shares of Norfolk Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $249.37 per share, with a total value of $87,279.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,580,979.50. This trade represents a 3.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Norfolk Southern Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NSC stock traded down $9.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $248.96. 2,435,924 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,209,156. The business's fifty day moving average is $245.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12-month low of $206.71 and a 12-month high of $277.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.35.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.07. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 20.04% and a net margin of 21.63%. As a group, research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Norfolk Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.71%.

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.