Patten & Patten Inc. TN Decreases Position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN decreased its position in Norfolk Southern Co. (NYSE:NSC) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,298 shares of the railroad operator’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Norfolk Southern were worth $4,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NSC. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Norfolk Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Norfolk Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Norfolk Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Norfolk Southern during the third quarter worth about $30,000. 75.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Norfolk Southern in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital downgraded Norfolk Southern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $289.00 to $256.00 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Norfolk Southern from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Norfolk Southern from $284.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Norfolk Southern from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.95.

Insider Activity at Norfolk Southern

In other Norfolk Southern news, Director Gilbert H. Lamphere purchased 607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $259.86 per share, for a total transaction of $157,735.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $646,271.82. This represents a 32.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Norfolk Southern Stock Up 2.2 %

NSC opened at $232.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $246.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.52. Norfolk Southern Co. has a 52 week low of $206.71 and a 52 week high of $277.60. The stock has a market cap of $52.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.35.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The railroad operator reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.07. Norfolk Southern had a return on equity of 20.04% and a net margin of 21.63%. As a group, research analysts expect that Norfolk Southern Co. will post 13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Norfolk Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.71%.

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.