First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases New Position in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,230 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NSC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,319,010 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $2,680,910,000 after buying an additional 2,710,930 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Norfolk Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $321,393,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Norfolk Southern by 341.9% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 789,950 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $187,100,000 after buying an additional 611,198 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the first quarter worth $122,256,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the first quarter worth $110,209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NSC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $284.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Baird R W raised Norfolk Southern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $235.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Norfolk Southern from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.25.

Norfolk Southern Trading Down 2.2%

NSC stock opened at $288.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $64.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.33. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a twelve month low of $201.63 and a twelve month high of $302.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $284.20 and a 200-day moving average of $257.90.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.24 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 27.51%. Norfolk Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is presently 36.49%.

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.