Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 222 Shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,893 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 95,518.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,028,232 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $746,217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,025,065 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $537,007,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,724,821 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $671,451,000 after buying an additional 1,265,666 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,546,214 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $627,438,000 after purchasing an additional 638,384 shares during the period. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NSC. Barclays upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $255.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $238.00 to $302.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $233.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $250.00 to $245.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.38.

Norfolk Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:NSC traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $252.66. 238,268 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,356,082. The company has a fifty day moving average of $250.74 and a 200 day moving average of $225.12. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12 month low of $183.09 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $62.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.30.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its quarterly 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). Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 12.14 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.33%.

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.