In this article we will take a look at whether hedge funds think Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) is a good investment right now. We check hedge fund and billionaire investor sentiment before delving into hours of research. Hedge funds spend millions of dollars on Ivy League graduates, unconventional data sources, expert networks, and get tips from investment bankers and industry insiders. Sure they sometimes fail miserably, but their consensus stock picks historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk factors.
Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. AIN was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with AIN holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that AIN isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
At the moment there are dozens of indicators stock traders employ to analyze stocks. Two of the less known indicators are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace the market by a superb amount (see the details here).
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind let’s view the key hedge fund action surrounding Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN).
Hedge fund activity in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -5% from the fourth quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards AIN over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN), with a stake worth $18.2 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Marshall Wace LLP, which amassed a stake valued at $9.2 million. Millennium Management, Two Sigma Advisors, and GAMCO Investors were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Quantinno Capital allocated the biggest weight to Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN), around 0.38% of its 13F portfolio. Marshall Wace LLP is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 0.09 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to AIN.
Seeing as Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) has witnessed a decline in interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers who were dropping their full holdings in the first quarter. Interestingly, Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners cut the biggest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1 million in stock, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in the first quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) but similarly valued. These stocks are FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M), Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), and First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to AIN’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| FORM | 22 | 92958 | 0 |
| M | 30 | 355877 | -2 |
| AAN | 25 | 163879 | -7 |
| FMBI | 11 | 37778 | 0 |
| Average | 22 | 162623 | -2.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $163 million. That figure was $51 million in AIN’s case. Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.4% in 2020 through June 22nd but beat the market by 15.9 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on AIN, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 23.6% during the second quarter and outperformed the market.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
