Brink’S Co (BCO): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Is Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO) ready to rally soon? The smart money is becoming hopeful. The number of long hedge fund positions increased by 5 in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of methods market participants can use to monitor stocks. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO).

Hedge fund activity in Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 42% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Cantillon Capital Management, managed by William von Mueffling, holds the biggest position in Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO). Cantillon Capital Management has a $73.7 million position in the stock, comprising 2.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Cantillon Capital Management’s heels is GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, which held a $72.6 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management and John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments.

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, initiated the most valuable position in Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO). Renaissance Technologies had 1.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

How have insiders been trading Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO). These stocks are Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ:KTOS), American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI), Checkpoint Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CKP), The Geo Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO), and Ascent Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASCMA). All of these stocks are in the security & protection services industry and their market caps are closest to BCO’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Brink’S Co (NYSE:BCO) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds