ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG): Hedge Funds Are Bullish and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) was in 30 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. CAG has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with CAG positions at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are tons of methods market participants can use to watch their holdings. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action encompassing ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG).

Hedge fund activity in ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)

Heading into Q2, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest position in ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG), worth close to $229.4 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Diamond Hill Capital, managed by Ric Dillon, which held a $201.1 million position; the fund has 2.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Now, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Levin Capital Strategies, managed by John A. Levin, established the most valuable position in ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG). Levin Capital Strategies had 58.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital also initiated a $32.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

What have insiders been doing with ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG). These stocks are McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC), Kellogg Company (NYSE:K), The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM), Mead Johnson Nutrition CO (NYSE:MJN), and Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB). This group of stocks belong to the processed & packaged goods industry and their market caps resemble CAG’s market cap.