Is ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO) a buy, sell, or hold? Prominent investors are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets decreased by 7 recently.
In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are seen as worthless, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the leaders of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their top stock picks, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (check out a sample of our picks).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action regarding ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO).
What have hedge funds been doing with ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO)?
At year’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -41% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.
Of the funds we track, Wynnefield Capital, managed by Nelson Obus, holds the most valuable position in ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO). Wynnefield Capital has a $3.4 million position in the stock, comprising 1.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, which held a $2.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Brodkowitz and Mike Vermut’s Newland Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Seeing as ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO) has faced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into 2013. At the top of the heap, Thomas E. Claugus’s GMT Capital said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we key on, worth about $3.9 million in stock.. Malcolm Fairbairn’s fund, Ascend Capital, also dumped its stock, about $3.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 7 funds heading into 2013.
Insider trading activity in ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO)
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO). These stocks are Standard Register Co (NYSE:SR) and Ennis, Inc. (NYSE:EBF). This group of stocks are in the office supplies industry and their market caps match ACCO’s market cap.
