Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Parker-Hannifin Corporation (PH)?

Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months.

To the average investor, there are many metrics shareholders can use to track stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH).

What have hedge funds been doing with Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 41% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital had the biggest position in Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH), worth close to $157.2 million, comprising 1.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Bill Miller of Legg Mason Capital Management, with a $75.2 million position; 1.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Impala Asset Management, managed by Robert Bishop, assembled the largest position in Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH). Impala Asset Management had 19.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $15.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new PH investors: Anil Stevens and Glenn Shapiro’s Parameter Capital Management, Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners.

How have insiders been trading Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 17 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH). These stocks are EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), TriMas Corp (NASDAQ:TRS), Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B), Watts Water Technologies Inc (NYSE:WTS), and Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR). All of these stocks are in the industrial equipment & components industry and their market caps match PH’s market cap.