Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Takes $237,000 Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,002 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,456 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,762,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 2,145 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 1,896 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 4,403 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its stake in Norfolk Southern by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 5,641 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NSC. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $250.00 to $245.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $262.74.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE NSC opened at $244.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $252.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.30. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12-month low of $183.09 and a 12-month high of $263.66.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The railroad operator reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.87 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend 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.