In a report released yesterday, Scott Schneeberger from Oppenheimer reiterated a Hold rating on Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC). The company’s shares closed last Friday at $120.35, close to its 52-week high of $122.17.
Schneeberger wrote:
“NSC delivered solid 4Q16 results. Continued productivity savings contributed to 4Q16 opex declining 8% y/y, which more than offset a revenue decline of 1% y/y. 4Q16 adj’d EPS of $1.42 grew 18% y/y. 2016 operating ratio improved 370bps y/y to a company- record 68.9% as NSC executed on its targeted $250M of productivity savings. In 2017 NSC expects an additional $100M of productivity savings and further operating ratio improvement. 4Q16 volume growth rebounded y/y, led by Intermodal and aided by a decelerating decline in Coal. NSC expects 2017 total volume growth, including y/y growth in its Coal segment.”
According to TipRanks.com, Schneeberger is a top 25 analyst with an average return of 13.5% and a 70.5% success rate. Schneeberger covers the Services sector, focusing on stocks such as New Oriental Education Tech, Service Corp International, and Capella Education Company.
Currently, the analyst consensus on Norfolk Southern is Moderate Buy and the average price target is $124.40, representing a 3.4% upside.
In a report issued on January 17, Buckingham also initiated coverage with a Hold rating on the stock with a $104 price target.
Norfolk Southern’s market cap is currently $34.95B and has a P/E ratio of 21.41. The company has a book value ratio of 2.8166.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 52 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. Most recently, in November 2016, Thomas Hurlbut, the VP & Controller of NSC sold 469 shares for a total of $48,663.
TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.
Norfolk Southern Corp. engages in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods. Its services include property leases and sales; wire line or pipeline and fiber optics projects; access property; manage private crossings, promote business with signboards, and natural resource management. The company was founded on July 23, 1980 and is headquartered in Norfolk, VA.
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