Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Buys 54,133 Shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 1,104.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 59,034 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after buying an additional 54,133 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $17,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NSC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,561,273 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $5,263,069,000 after purchasing an additional 239,914 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 10,859,121 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $2,779,609,000 after purchasing an additional 192,567 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,822,075 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,228,064,000 after buying an additional 36,362 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 4.6% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,182,921 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,070,702,000 after buying an additional 184,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Norfolk Southern by 6.5% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,289,431 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $841,994,000 after buying an additional 201,861 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $301.00 to $296.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $298.00 to $299.00 in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $347.00 to $333.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eighteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.95.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $303.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $300.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.64. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 52 week low of $201.63 and a 52 week high of $319.94. The company has a market capitalization of $68.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 1.31.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.03 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 23.59%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.35%.

About Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad company that provides rail transportation and related logistics services. As a Class I carrier, the company operates an extensive network across the eastern United States and offers scheduled freight service for a broad range of industries. Its core operations include long-haul and regional rail freight transportation, intermodal services that move containers and trailers between rail and other modes, and terminal and switching services that support efficient rail shipments for industrial and port customers.

The company transports a variety of commodities, serving sectors such as coal and energy, automotive and automotive parts, chemicals, agriculture, metals and construction materials, and consumer goods.