Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $396,000 Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) by 153.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,606 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $1,603,203,000 after buying an additional 1,181,936 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Norfolk Southern by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia boosted its position in Norfolk Southern by 1.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 63.2% in the third quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 1,324,376 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $277,655,000 after acquiring an additional 512,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,194,669 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $340,744,000 after purchasing an additional 24,457 shares in the last quarter. 72.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NSC shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $221.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $273.00 to $226.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Norfolk Southern from a “conviction-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group cut their target price 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. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $240.30.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NSC stock opened at $208.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $209.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.96. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12 month low of $196.33 and a 12 month high of $264.22.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The railroad operator reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 23.40% and a return on equity of 25.76%. Norfolk Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.51%.

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.