Now, according to many traders, hedge funds are perceived as useless, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds trading in present day, this site aim at the top tier of this group, around 525 funds. It is widely held that this group oversees the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by paying attention to their best investments, we’ve figured out a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of incentives for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s discuss the latest info about Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA).
How are hedge funds trading Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Mouth Kellett Capital Management, managed by Mark McGoldrick and Jason Maynard, holds the largest position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA). Mouth Kellett Capital Management has a $56.7 million position in the stock, comprising 6.8% of its 13F portfolio. On Mouth Kellett Capital Management’s heels is Appaloosa Management LP, managed by David Tepper, which held a $49.8 million position; the fund has 0.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Claus Moller’s P2 Capital Partners, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management and Larry Robbins’s Glenview Capital.
As industrywide interest increased, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Mouth Kellett Capital Management, managed by Mark McGoldrick and Jason Maynard, established the most outsized position in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA). Mouth Kellett Capital Management had 56.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP also made a $49.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MWA positions are Claus Moller’s P2 Capital Partners, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Larry Robbins’s Glenview Capital.
Insider trading activity in Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA)
Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) has experienced 3 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA). These stocks are Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES), CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR), EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), and Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ:SNHY). All of these stocks are in the industrial equipment & components industry and their market caps are similar to MWA’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) | 7 | 0 | 5 |
| CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE:CIR) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO) | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ:SNHY) | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Using the results explained by Insider Monkey’s research, average investors should always track hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA) applies perfectly to this mantra.
