Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The railroad operator reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.32 earnings per share.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of NSC traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $237.52. 518,060 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,271,776. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.24. Norfolk Southern has a 12-month low of $183.09 and a 12-month high of $263.66. The company has a market cap of $58.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $252.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.12.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 67.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Norfolk Southern from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $272.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Norfolk Southern from $252.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Norfolk Southern from $236.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley downgraded Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.32.

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.