Where Does The Smart Money Stand On CSX Corporation (CSX)?

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We have processed the filings of the more than 867 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their September 30th holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) for your portfolio? We’ll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer.

Hedge fund interest in CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. Our calculations also showed that CSX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings). The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABB), BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) to gather more data points.

At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Now let’s analyze the latest hedge fund action encompassing CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX).

Eric Mandelblatt of Soroban Capital Partners

Do Hedge Funds Think CSX Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At Q3’s end, a total of 56 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from the second quarter of 2021. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in CSX over the last 25 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

More specifically, Soroban Capital Partners was the largest shareholder of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), with a stake worth $1176.9 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Soroban Capital Partners was Egerton Capital Limited, which amassed a stake valued at $989.3 million. Fisher Asset Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and Renaissance Technologies were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Soroban Capital Partners allocated the biggest weight to CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), around 11.02% of its 13F portfolio. 11 Capital Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 5.48 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CSX.

Due to the fact that CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedge funds that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, worth close to $28.5 million in stock. Jos Shaver’s fund, Electron Capital Partners, also sold off its stock, about $26.9 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX). We will take a look at ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABB), BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO), The Southern Company (NYSE:SO), ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE:IBN), Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW), and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble CSX’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 35.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3164 million. That figure was $3915 million in CSX’s case. Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABB) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for CSX is 79.1. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.6% in 2021 through November 30th and still beat the market by 5.6 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on CSX as the stock returned 16.8% since the end of Q3 (through 11/30) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.