Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) CEO Sells $13,138,173.50 in Stock

Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) CEO Alan H. Shaw sold 51,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.98, for a total transaction of $13,138,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,970,819.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of NSC opened at $244.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $55.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.31. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $183.09 and a 52 week high of $263.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $246.79 and a 200-day moving average of $237.24.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 14.85% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The firm 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 firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.8 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is currently 86.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NSC has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $265.00 to $276.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Norfolk Southern from $251.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Norfolk Southern from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.56.

Institutional Trading of Norfolk Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NSC. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 209.3% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 111,914 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $26,454,000 after buying an additional 75,729 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the second quarter worth about $1,676,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the second quarter worth about $13,627,000. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 96,384 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $22,783,000 after acquiring an additional 6,306 shares during the period. Finally, Broderick Brian C bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $956,000. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.