Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) Announces $1.35 Quarterly Dividend

Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 1.35 per share by the railroad operator on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%.

Norfolk Southern has raised its dividend by an average of 9.1% annually over the last three years. Norfolk Southern has a payout ratio of 35.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Norfolk Southern to earn $13.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.9%.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NSC opened at $252.20 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $248.64. Norfolk Southern has a twelve month low of $206.71 and a twelve month high of $277.60. The company has a market capitalization of $57.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Sameh Fahmy purchased 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $249.37 per share, for a total transaction of $87,279.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,350 shares in the company, valued at $2,580,979.50. This represents a 3.50 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NSC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Benchmark lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $289.00 to $309.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Norfolk Southern from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.68.

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.