Dun & Bradstreet Corp (DNB): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

What’s a smart Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB) investor to do?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of metrics market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can beat the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to discuss the newest info for Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB).

How have hedgies been trading Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 14% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

According to our 13F database, John Shapiro’s Chieftain Capital had the most valuable position in Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB), worth close to $114.7 million, accounting for 7.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ariel Investments, managed by John W. Rogers, which held a $99.7 million position; 1.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include John Ku’s Manor Road Capital Partners, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain money managers have jumped into Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB) headfirst. Chieftain Capital, managed by John Shapiro, assembled the most outsized position in Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB). Chieftain Capital had 114.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments also initiated a $99.7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new DNB investors: John Ku’s Manor Road Capital Partners, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

What have insiders been doing with Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB)?

Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Dun & Bradstreet Corp (NYSE:DNB). These stocks are DigitalGlobe Inc (NYSE:DGI), FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS), Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE:DST), and Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN). All of these stocks are in the information & delivery services industry and their market caps match DNB’s market cap.