CoreFirst Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 4,885 Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,885 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Atlantic Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 75.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NSC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens lifted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $275.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.63.

Insider Transactions at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Gilbert H. Lamphere purchased 607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $259.86 per share, for a total transaction of $157,735.02. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $646,271.82. This trade represents a 32.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NSC opened at $236.11 on Tuesday. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $206.71 and a 52 week high of $277.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $53.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.63.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.07. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 20.04%. On average, analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.71%.

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.