Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC Shares Sold by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can cut its holdings in Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 20.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 181,538 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 45,481 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.08% of Norfolk Southern worth $46,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NSC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Norfolk Southern by 31.5% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,710,930 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the second quarter valued at $321,393,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Norfolk Southern by 341.9% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 611,198 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the first quarter valued at $122,256,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the first quarter valued at $110,209,000. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Richard H. Anderson bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $281.86 per share, with a total value of $732,836.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,973,020. The trade was a 59.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Stock Down 1.1%

NSC stock opened at $280.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.86. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a one year low of $201.63 and a one year high of $302.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $285.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $266.41.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The railroad operator reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.31 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 24.22%.The firm’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is presently 41.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $255.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.70.

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.