Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The railroad operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.03, Analyst Ratings.Net reports. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NSC shares. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $98.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 23rd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Cowen and Company dropped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. from $96.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Vetr cut shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Avondale Partners raised shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Norfolk Southern Corp. presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.42.

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Norfolk Southern Corp. stock. Simplex Trading raised its stake in shares of Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) by 143.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 521 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Simplex Trading’s holdings in Norfolk Southern Corp. were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) opened at 70.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.93 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $79.57 and its 200 day moving average is $81.98. Norfolk Southern Corp. has a 12 month low of $66.51 and a 12 month high of $112.05.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 3rd.

Norfolk Southern Corporation is a holding company. The Company owns a freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company. The Company is engaged in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products and finished goods primarily in the Southeast, East and Midwest and through interchange with rail carriers, to and from the rest of the United States. The Company also transports overseas freight through various Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. It provides logistics services and offers an intermodal network in the eastern half of the United States. The Company’s system reaches various individual industries, electric generating facilities, mines, distribution centers, transload facilities and other businesses located in its service area. The Company’s general merchandise market group is composed of five commodity groupings: chemicals; metals and construction; agriculture, consumer products, and Government; automotive, and paper, clay and forest products.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:NSC

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