Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) Announces Earnings Results

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The railroad operator reported $2.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Norfolk Southern had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The business’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.32 earnings per share.

Norfolk Southern Trading Up 0.8 %

Norfolk Southern stock traded up $1.91 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $238.13. The company had a trading volume of 584,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,272,440. The firm has a market cap of $58.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.24. Norfolk Southern has a 1 year low of $183.09 and a 1 year high of $263.66. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $252.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.12.

Norfolk Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Norfolk Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Norfolk Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $250.00 to $245.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Norfolk Southern from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $272.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Norfolk Southern from $302.00 to $294.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Norfolk Southern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.32.

Norfolk Southern Company Profile

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.