Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) PT Raised to $270.00

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) had its price target upped by Loop Capital from $261.00 to $270.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the railroad operator’s stock. Loop Capital’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 11.90% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NSC. Benchmark lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $250.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TheStreet upgraded Norfolk Southern from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $265.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.74.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $241.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $59.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $252.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.80. Norfolk Southern has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. Norfolk Southern’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Norfolk Southern will post 11.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,629,330 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,699,371,000 after acquiring an additional 264,031 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,233,372 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,946,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,810,658 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,861,818 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,385,618,000 after acquiring an additional 104,502 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,112,708 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $869,600,000 after acquiring an additional 13,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,073,839 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $605,331,000 after acquiring an additional 26,686 shares in the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.