Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Has $571,000 Stock Position in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 8.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,412 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NSC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,089,164 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $4,714,927,000 after purchasing an additional 139,485 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,608,080 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,020,318,000 after purchasing an additional 918,559 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,694,573 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,098,472,000 after purchasing an additional 113,648 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,020,392 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $945,385,000 after purchasing an additional 580,293 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,968,582 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $931,426,000 after purchasing an additional 75,865 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Norfolk Southern from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup cut Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $259.00 to $288.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $250.00) on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.80.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Shares of NSC stock opened at $259.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $249.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $241.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $58.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.31. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 12 month low of $201.63 and a 12 month high of $277.60.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The railroad operator reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 27.40%. Norfolk Southern’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.49 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is currently 36.89%.

Norfolk Southern 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.