Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Weyerhaeuser Company (WY)?

Does the smart money love Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)?

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of indicators shareholders can use to track Mr. Market. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the world of equities. There are lots of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, we’re going to examine the latest info surrounding Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY).

How are hedge funds trading Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 31 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -6% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

According to our 13F database, Matt McLennan’s First Eagle Investment Management had the biggest position in Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY), worth close to $392.4 million, accounting for 1.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Third Avenue Management, managed by Martin Whitman, which held a $222.2 million position; the fund has 4.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Because Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) has witnessed dropping sentiment from upper-tier hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Sean Cullinan’s Point State Capital dropped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, comprising close to $33.5 million in stock. Jeffrey Vinik’s fund, Vinik Asset Management, also sold off its stock, about $32.9 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q1.

How have insiders been trading Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY). These stocks are Jewett-Cameron Trading Co Ltd. (NASDAQ:JCTCF), Patrick Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:PATK), Pope Resources L.P. (NASDAQ:POPE), Deltic Timber Corp (NYSE:DEL), and Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN). This group of stocks are in the lumber, wood production industry and their market caps are similar to WY’s market cap.

Using the returns explained by the previously mentioned research, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) is an important part of this process.

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