Norfolk Southern (NSC) Stock Buybacks: 45.5% of Shares Retired Since 2005

Name: Norfolk Southern (NSC) shares outstanding since 1999, split adjusted
Creator: Buyback Radar
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Shares outstanding, 1999 to todaysplit adjusted, from SEC filings

1999, 382,780,3372026-06-30, 224,608,373

A share bought in 1999

1.7× more of Norfolk Southern today, without buying another share. It was one of 382,780,337 shares then. It is one of 224,608,373 now.

Every filing we read27 fiscal years, split adjusted

Fiscal year	Date	Shares outstanding	Filing
1999	2000-01-31	382,780,337	10-K405	cover page
2000	2001-01-31	384,427,691	10-K405	cover page
2001	2002-01-31	386,536,743	10-K	cover page
2002	2003-01-31	389,057,174	10-K	cover page
2003	2004-01-31	391,852,750	10-K	cover page
2004	2004-06-30	400,276,939	10-K	cover page
2005	2005-06-30	412,236,777	10-K	cover page
2006	2006-06-30	396,986,263	10-K	cover page
2007	2007-06-29	376,332,668	10-K	cover page
2008	2008-12-31	366,233,106	10-K
2009	2010-01-31	369,655,129	10-K
2010	2011-01-31	356,109,351	10-K
2011	2012-01-31	330,141,306	10-K
2012	2013-01-31	314,516,374	10-K
2013	2014-01-31	309,715,149	10-K
2014	2015-01-31	307,411,965	10-K
2015	2016-01-31	298,198,651	10-K
2016	2017-01-31	290,553,713	10-K
2017	2018-01-31	283,997,242	10-K
2018	2019-01-31	267,455,326	10-K
2019	2020-01-31	257,844,180	10-K
2020	2021-01-31	251,911,634	10-K
2021	2022-01-31	239,777,444	10-K
2022	2023-01-31	227,782,202	10-K
2023	2024-01-31	225,881,508	10-K
2024	2025-01-31	226,434,128	10-K
2025	2026-01-31	224,572,025	10-K

Source: all 10-K filings of Norfolk Southern on EDGAR. Download this series as CSV. Licence CC BY 4.0, credit Buyback Radar.

What the buybacks cost, fiscal 2007 to 2025cash flow statement against share count

$24.3Bspent on buybacks

172Mfewer shares outstanding

$129average price paid per share bought back

0.7%buyback yield, last fiscal year’s spend on today’s market value

Cash spent comes from the cash flow statement. Shares outstanding fell by less than the company bought, because part of every buyback only replaces shares handed to employees. Today’s price is $326.92.

Norfolk Southern buybacks, answered

Is Norfolk Southern buying back its stock?

Only enough to stand still. The share count is roughly flat over the last twelve months, at 224,608,373 as of June 30, 2026. Over five years the share count is down 7.7%.

How many shares has Norfolk Southern bought back?

Net of every new share it issued, Norfolk Southern has 187.6 million fewer shares than at its 2005 peak. That is 45.5% of the company. Since fiscal 2007 alone it bought back about 189.3 million shares, while the count fell by 151.7 million. The difference went to employees and other new shares.

How many shares does Norfolk Southern have outstanding?

224,608,373 shares, as of June 30, 2026, from the cover page of its latest 10-Q. At the 2005 peak it had 412,236,777.

What do Norfolk Southern's buybacks mean for a shareholder?

Each share is a bigger slice of the company. Someone who held Norfolk Southern stock in 2005 owns 1.8 times as much of the business today without buying another share. Whether that was a good use of cash depends on the price paid.

How does Norfolk Southern compare with other cannibal stocks?

Norfolk Southern ranks No. 127 of 467 companies on Buyback Radar by share of the company retired since its peak. Close to it on the list: Deere & (45.6%), Advance Auto Parts (45.5%), General Motors (45.5%), BNY (45.4%).

Every answer is computed from Norfolk Southern's own SEC filings and rebuilt every Monday. Latest count: 10-Q on EDGAR.

Insider buying, last 12 months

Clyburn William Jr.Director2025-12-05, 204 shares at $294.79 $60K total

Fahmy SamehDirector2025-11-05, 1,650 shares at $282.97 $467K total

ANDERSON RICHARD HDirector2025-10-27, 2,600 shares at $281.86 $733K total

The story

The numbers say what happened. The story says whether it can continue. We cover companies like Norfolk Southern in depth on Cannibal Stocks.

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