Diversified Trust Co Decreases Stake in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 26th, 2023

Diversified Trust Co cut its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,758 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 362 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 18.3% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,647,054 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,603,203,000 after buying an additional 1,181,936 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 216.8% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,044,472 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $218,973,000 after purchasing an additional 714,737 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 31.4% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,330,991 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $529,811,000 after purchasing an additional 557,432 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 63.2% in the third quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 1,324,376 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $277,655,000 after purchasing an additional 512,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 64.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 620,400 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $141,011,000 after purchasing an additional 242,900 shares in the last quarter. 72.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:NSC opened at $200.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $234.89. The company has a market cap of $45.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $196.33 and a 52 week high of $291.55.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 24.98%. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 2nd. This is a boost from Norfolk Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 38.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NSC. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $272.00 to $269.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $255.00 in a report on Monday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on Norfolk Southern from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $249.83.

About Norfolk Southern

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Norfolk Southern Corp. is a transportation company, which engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods. The company also transports overseas freight through several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. Its services include property leases and sales, wire line or pipeline and fiber optics projects, access property, managing private crossings, promoting businesses with signboards, and natural resource management.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC)

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