Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 63,471 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $13,627,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Norfolk Southern by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,623,690 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $5,001,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,072 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,986,180 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,525,699,000 after acquiring an additional 124,362 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,752,050 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $956,285,000 after acquiring an additional 347,852 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 157.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,890,665 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $735,749,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $556,797,000. 75.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total transaction of $88,529.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $371,077.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Nabanita C. Nag sold 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.38, for a total value of $88,529.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $371,077.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sameh Fahmy bought 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $245.15 per share, with a total value of $171,605.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,887,655. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 10,350 shares of company stock valued at $2,353,715 in the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

NSC traded down $2.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $239.62. 693,744 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,303,235. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.63. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 12-month low of $183.09 and a 12-month high of $263.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.43. The company has a market cap of $54.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.56, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.32.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The railroad operator reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 14.85% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.78 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on NSC shares. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $261.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.24.

About Norfolk Southern

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.