Clearstead Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Clearstead Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) by 26.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,926 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 699 shares during the quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 18.3% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,647,054 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,603,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,936 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 31.4% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,330,991 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $529,811,000 after buying an additional 557,432 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,295,294 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $481,323,000 after buying an additional 24,172 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,166,108 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $492,338,000 after buying an additional 17,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.9% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,462,496 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $306,613,000 after buying an additional 27,419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NSC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $273.00 to $266.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Norfolk Southern from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $285.00 to $245.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $280.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $250.17.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.2 %

NSC opened at $208.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 1-year low of $203.65 and a 1-year high of $291.55. The company has a market capitalization of $47.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $238.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.05.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 24.98%. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13.66 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. This is an increase from Norfolk Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.85%.

Norfolk Southern Company Profile

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Norfolk Southern Corp. is a transportation company, which engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods. The company also transports overseas freight through several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. Its services include property leases and sales, wire line or pipeline and fiber optics projects, access property, managing private crossings, promoting businesses with signboards, and natural resource management.