IHT Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,444 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $1,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NSC. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.1% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.4% during the third quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 3,212 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.7% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 9,546 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,001,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Members Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.7% during the third quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 1,851 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Norfolk Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Benchmark cut their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $280.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Norfolk Southern in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Norfolk Southern from $225.00 to $231.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $250.17.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 1.1 %

NSC stock opened at $207.44 on Friday. Norfolk Southern Co. has a twelve month low of $202.40 and a twelve month high of $291.55. The company has a market cap of $47.25 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $236.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $236.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.01. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 24.98% and a net margin of 25.66%. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Increases Dividend

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

About Norfolk Southern

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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.