Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC Shares Purchased by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 61.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,095 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $2,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NSC. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 775.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 39,513 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $11,870,000 after buying an additional 35,000 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,485,000. DLD Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,020,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 203,772 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $61,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yakira Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,439,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $354.00 to $297.00 in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $317.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $361.00 to $368.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $301.00 to $296.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eighteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $308.95.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Norfolk Southern stock opened at $297.98 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.85. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 1 year low of $201.63 and a 1 year high of $319.94. The company has a market capitalization of $66.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is presently 42.35%.

Norfolk Southern Profile

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.