Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest recently.
In the financial world, there are tons of gauges investors can use to track their holdings. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can outperform the market by a significant margin (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. There are plenty of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the key action surrounding Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK).
What have hedge funds been doing with Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Fir Tree, managed by Jeffrey Tannenbaum, holds the largest position in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK). Fir Tree has a $186.9 million position in the stock, comprising 3.5% of its 13F portfolio. On Fir Tree’s heels is David Cohen and Harold Levy of Iridian Asset Management, with a $140.4 million position; the fund has 2.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include John Shapiro’s Chieftain Capital, Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors and John Osterweis’s Osterweis Capital Management.
Because Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, worth about $15 million in stock., and Michael Novogratz of Fortress Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $4.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
Insider trading activity in Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK). These stocks are Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP), Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE), Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL), Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE:RKT), and MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV). All of these stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps match CCK’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP) | 13 | 0 | 18 |
| Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) | 31 | 1 | 6 |
| Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) | 25 | 1 | 10 |
| Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE:RKT) | 33 | 0 | 7 |
| MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV) | 20 | 0 | 1 |
With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) is an important part of this process.
