Hedge Funds Are Buying Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC)

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As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, created the most valuable position in Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC). Arrowstreet Capital had $18.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also initiated a $14.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Alexander Roepers’s Atlantic Investment Management, Ken Brodkowitz and Mike Vermut’s Newland Capital, and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Perrigo Company (NASDAQ:PRGO), General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE:GGP), Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), and Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI). All of these stocks’ market caps match NSC’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
PRGO 63 4597917 -20
GGP 27 271832 5
BEN 37 1811000 2
BHI 53 3013440 -20

As you can see these stocks had an average of 45 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.42 billion. That figure was $495 million in NSC’s case. Perrigo Company (NASDAQ:PRGO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand General Growth Properties Inc (NYSE:GGP) is the least popular one with only 27 bullish hedge fund positions. Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on.

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