Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $2.27 Million Holdings in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,583 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $2,265,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NSC. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $536,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,261 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia boosted its stake 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 bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $103,223,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 boosted its stake 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on NSC. Barclays upgraded Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $302.00 to $294.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley downgraded Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $233.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.32.

Norfolk Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

NSC stock opened at $239.94 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $251.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.49. Norfolk Southern Co. has a fifty-two week low of $183.09 and a fifty-two week high of $263.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The railroad operator reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.09). Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.96%.

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.