Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Stock Position in Norfolk Southern Corporation $NSC

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) by 10.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,795 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,990 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.05% of Norfolk Southern worth $29,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,321,359 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $4,813,114,000 after purchasing an additional 232,195 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 31.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,319,010 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $2,680,910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,710,930 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 3.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,159,070 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $983,161,000 after purchasing an additional 138,678 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 0.7% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,998,335 shares of the railroad operator’s stock valued at $947,006,000 after purchasing an additional 29,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Norfolk Southern by 6.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 189,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.10% of the company’s stock.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE NSC opened at $281.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $63.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.33. Norfolk Southern Corporation has a 1 year low of $201.63 and a 1 year high of $302.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $263.28.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 24.22%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.25 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Norfolk Southern Corporation will post 13 earnings per share for the current year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NSC. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Norfolk Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Saturday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $320.00 to $314.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Norfolk Southern from $235.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.70.

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.