Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (CTB)?

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment lately.

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of methods market participants can use to analyze stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outpace the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of reasons for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a look at the latest action encompassing Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB).

Hedge fund activity in Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB)

Heading into Q2, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management had the largest position in Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB), worth close to $36.9 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Dreman Value Management’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $32.7 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Seeing as Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q2. Interestingly, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies we track, valued at close to $3.2 million in stock., and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.9 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB)?

Insider buying is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB). These stocks are Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT), Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI), and Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY). This group of stocks are the members of the rubber & plastics industry and their market caps resemble CTB’s market cap.