Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $705,000 Stock Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,984 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NSC. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 69.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,723,398 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $536,319,000 after buying an additional 1,112,261 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,976,871 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $389,305,000 after purchasing an additional 577,171 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $103,223,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 23,585.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 351,261 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $83,031,000 after purchasing an additional 349,778 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,629,330 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,699,371,000 after purchasing an additional 264,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $252.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $262.74.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE NSC traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $245.40. 602,468 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,258,502. The company’s 50-day moving average is $252.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.71. Norfolk Southern Co. has a one year low of $183.09 and a one year high of $263.66. 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 company has a market capitalization of $60.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its 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). Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 15.03%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. Norfolk Southern’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is presently 67.33%.

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.