OFI Invest Asset Management Purchases New Shares in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,223 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $846,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $556,797,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 157.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $735,749,000 after buying an additional 1,766,135 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 5.9% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 600.3% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,021,312 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $241,421,000 after buying an additional 875,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1,956.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 451,226 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $106,661,000 after buying an additional 429,288 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Sameh Fahmy acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,534,750. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Claude Mongeau acquired 5,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $221.00 per share, with a total value of $1,248,650.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,420,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sameh Fahmy acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,534,750. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 10,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,353,715. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Norfolk Southern from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.24.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:NSC traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $240.44. 853,084 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,288,830. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $228.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.52. Norfolk Southern Co. has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $54.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.32.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.64% and a net margin of 14.85%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Norfolk Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.96%.

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.