Fulton Bank N.A. Reduces Stock Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Fulton Bank N.A. trimmed its position in shares of Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,627 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 1,554 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $1,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,940 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $4,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,540 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Norfolk Southern by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,858 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Norfolk Southern by 3.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,200 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $63,417,000 after acquiring an additional 8,844 shares during the period. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NSC shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $289.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $241.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $253.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sameh Fahmy acquired 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $249.37 per share, with a total value of $87,279.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,580,979.50. This represents a 3.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:NSC opened at $236.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $53.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.34. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 1 year low of $206.71 and a 1 year high of $277.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.36.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The railroad operator reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.14. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 19.85% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. Norfolk Southern’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 11.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is 50.70%.

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.