Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC)

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) in a note issued to investors on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price target on the railroad operator’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 19.99% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on NSC. TheStreet raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays raised shares of Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $305.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $236.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $255.18.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NSC stock opened at $250.03 on Monday. Norfolk Southern has a 12 month low of $183.09 and a 12 month high of $263.66. The stock has a market cap of $61.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $253.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.91.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Norfolk Southern will post 12.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Norfolk Southern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NSC. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in Norfolk Southern in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 662.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 122 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Norfolk Southern in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Norfolk Southern in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

About Norfolk Southern

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.