Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Purchases Shares of 17,873 Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 17,873 shares of the railroad operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,825,837 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $6,012,836,000 after purchasing an additional 272,651 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Norfolk Southern by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,710,549 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $2,803,630,000 after purchasing an additional 379,819 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Norfolk Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,878,029 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $1,401,797,000 after buying an additional 36,205 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,084,701,000. Finally, Pentwater Capital Management LP grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 3,019,000 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $871,646,000 after buying an additional 269,000 shares during the last quarter. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NSC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $363.00 price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern in a report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Norfolk Southern from $360.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Norfolk Southern from $351.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Norfolk Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Norfolk Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $348.00.

Norfolk Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Norfolk Southern stock opened at $341.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $76.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $308.76. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $268.23 and a fifty-two week high of $358.60.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The railroad operator reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.20. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 18.21%. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 EPS. Norfolk Southern’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Norfolk Southern’s payout ratio is presently 46.08%.

Norfolk Southern Profile

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a major U.S. freight railroad company that provides rail transportation and related logistics services. As a Class I carrier, the company operates an extensive network across the eastern United States and offers scheduled freight service for a broad range of industries. Its core operations include long-haul and regional rail freight transportation, intermodal services that move containers and trailers between rail and other modes, and terminal and switching services that support efficient rail shipments for industrial and port customers.

The company transports a variety of commodities, serving sectors such as coal and energy, automotive and automotive parts, chemicals, agriculture, metals and construction materials, and consumer goods.