Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Bristow Group Inc (BRS)?: Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW), Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (ASR)

Is Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) a buy, sell, or hold? Prominent investors are turning bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions improved by 4 lately.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of gauges investors can use to analyze their holdings. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of incentives for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action encompassing Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS).

What does the smart money think about Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS)?

At year’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 57% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments had the most valuable position in Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS), worth close to $37 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Martin Whitman of Third Avenue Management, with a $35 million position; the fund has 0.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Ariel Investments, managed by John W. Rogers, created the most outsized position in Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS). Ariel Investments had 37 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BRS investors: Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

How have insiders been trading Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) has seen 2 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 Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS). These stocks are Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAWW), Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (NYSE:ASR), Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Nort(ADR) (NASDAQ:OMAB), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (ADR) (NYSE:PAC), and Air Methods Corp (NASDAQ:AIRM). This group of stocks are in the air services, other industry and their market caps are similar to BRS’s market cap.

With the results shown by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn more about Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Newsletter

Insider Monkey’s small-cap strategy returned 37% between September 2012 and March 2013 versus 12.9% for the S&P 500 index. Try it now by clicking the link above.