Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Has $785,000 Stock Holdings in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,067 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NSC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Norfolk Southern by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,321,359 shares of the railroad operator’s stock worth $4,813,114,000 after buying an additional 232,195 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,710,930 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 138,678 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 29,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Norfolk Southern by 6.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,128,102 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $740,891,000 after acquiring an additional 189,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Price Performance

Norfolk Southern stock opened at $283.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $285.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.68. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 12 month low of $201.63 and a 12 month high of $302.24. The company has a market capitalization of $63.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The railroad operator reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.31 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 27.51% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.25 EPS. Analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 EPS for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NSC. TD Cowen raised Norfolk Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $263.00 to $323.00 in a report on Monday, July 21st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $235.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Norfolk Southern from $305.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $288.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.80.

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.