Why These 5 Stocks Are Plummeting Today

Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) is trading down by 9.6% in afternoon trading, after terminating its modified Dutch Auction tender offer, in which the company was to purchase up to $200 million of common stock. The offer was originally set to expire on January 26; however, as a result of the termination, the company will purchase no shares in the offer. Moreover, every share that was previously tendered and not withdrawn will be returned to tendering holders.

Hedge funds seemed quite confident in Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) during the third quarter, as the small-cap publisher and distributor of children’s books saw hedge fund interest surge by more than 21% among the funds that we track. As of September 30, 17 funds were long the stock, and owned more than 10% of the company’s shares. Chuck Royce’s mutual fund, Royce & Associates, held the largest position among those funds, comprising 1.95 million shares, or 5.7% of the company.

Next up is Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP), down by 3.5% in the afternoon hours after the company announced its fourth quarter financial results. Before the market opened, the railroad operator reported earnings of $1.31 per share on revenue of $5.21 billion, missing the Street’s consensus of $1.42 in earnings per share and $5.54 billion in revenue.

However, it seems like many hedge funds saw the weakness coming. Over the third quarter of 2015, the number of hedge funds in our database long Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) fell to 55 from 64. Nonetheless, First Eagle Investment Management, a mutual fund of which Jean-Marie Eveillard is senior advisor, started a new position in the company over the period. Its 1.52 million shares make it the largest investor among the more than 730 funds that we track.