Should You Avoid Owens-Illinois Inc (OI)?

Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI) investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many metrics investors can use to track Mr. Market. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. There are a number of motivations for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if you know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the key action regarding Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI).

Hedge fund activity in Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI)

Heading into Q2, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Alexander Roepers’s Atlantic Investment Management had the largest position in Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI), worth close to $232.9 million, comprising 21.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick of First Pacific Advisors LLC, with a $162.1 million position; the fund has 1.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital, John Osterweis’s Osterweis Capital Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Seeing as Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the largest stake of the 450+ funds we track, valued at an estimated $129.4 million in stock.. Ricky Sandler’s fund, Eminence Capital, also sold off its stock, about $47 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI) has seen 3 unique insiders buying, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI). These stocks are AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR), Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE), Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS), Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP), and Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG). This group of stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps match OI’s market cap.