(The following article by Christopher Dinsmore was posted on the Virginian-Pilot website on August 20.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp.’s top executive bought and sold 100,000 shares of his company’s stock on Tuesday , according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
David R. Goode , the Norfolk-based railroad’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, exercised stock options granted to him in 1995 to acquire 100,000 shares of Norfolk Southern stock for $20.83 each.
He sold the stock in batches during the day Tuesday at an average sale price of nearly $27.11 a share. Before brokerage fees and income taxes, he netted $627,526 from the sale.
Susan Terpay , a railroad spokeswoman, said that Goode exercised the option because it was going to expire in January and that he sold the shares to diversify his holdings on the advice of his financial advisers.
“His holdings are still highly concentrated in Norfolk Southern common stock,” Terpay said.
According to the SEC filing, Goode directly owned 616,264 shares, not including stock options, at the end of the day, after giving another 4,000 shares away as a gift.
The railroad’s latest proxy statement disclosed that Goode also owns about 3 million options to buy Norfolk Southern shares.