Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Trims Position in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,151 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $1,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,321,359 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $4,813,114,000 after acquiring an additional 232,195 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,319,010 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $2,680,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,710,930 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,159,070 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $983,161,000 after purchasing an additional 138,678 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,998,335 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $947,006,000 after purchasing an additional 29,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,128,102 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $740,891,000 after purchasing an additional 189,076 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NSC. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Norfolk Southern from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. TD Cowen raised Norfolk Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $323.00 in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Baird R W raised Norfolk Southern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $285.15.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

NYSE NSC opened at $273.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $61.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $275.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.72. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 1-year low of $201.63 and a 1-year high of $291.69.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.24 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 19.35% and a net margin of 27.51%. Norfolk Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is currently 36.49%.

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.