Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 70 Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,543 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Norfolk Southern by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 9,986 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,360,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,456 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,762,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,679 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $277.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $241.00 to $239.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.53.

Insider Transactions at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Sameh Fahmy bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,750. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Sameh Fahmy bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $219.25 per share, with a total value of $438,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,750. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Claude E. Elkins sold 8,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.43, for a total value of $1,902,593.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Norfolk Southern Stock Down 1.1 %

Norfolk Southern stock traded down $2.47 on Wednesday, hitting $221.81. 672,155 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,290,264. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $50.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.58. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 1 year low of $183.09 and a 1 year high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.58 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.96%.

Norfolk Southern 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.