Five NYSE Stocks Hitting 52-Weeks Low

Markets opened on a bright note today despite negative news about factory output and jobless claims. The production price index showed higher than expected decline in the month of August. The figure stood at 0.4%, surpassing the expected decline of 0.3%.

In this article, we will take a look at five NYSE stocks that have recently hit their 52-week lows, including Bridgepoint Education Inc (NYSE:BPI), Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI), ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV), Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), and Oceaneering International (NYSE:OII). In addition, we are going to see what the funds we track at Insider Monkey think about the companies in question.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

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Bridgepoint Education Inc (NYSE:BPI) has hit its 52-week low of $5.38 recently. Recently, the company entered into an agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau forgiving loans granted to approximately 1,277 former and current students. However, the institute, maintained that it had acted in good faith. The CFPB found only one concern among the loans. Among the funds we track, 11 funds owned $43.89 million worth of Bridgepoint Education’s stock in aggregate at the end of June, which represented 13.10% of its outstanding stock, compared to 13 funds that held $60 million worth of shares a quarter earlier.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI) is currently trading close to its 52-week low of $27.68. In what is the company’s first US license of its CDAlky^® sulfuric acid alkylation technology, a major North American refiner has licensed the technology to produce 23,000 barrels per day of alkylate on the US Gulf Coast. No numbers were discussed in the press release. The number of funds from our database long Chicago Bridge & Iron Company stood at 30 in the quarter ending June. The total value of their holdings stood at $323 million, up from $258 billion held by 25 funds at the end of the previous quarter.

ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV) is trading at $7.06, near its 52-week low of $6.76. The company has recently received reduced earnings estimates from KeyCorp Brokers on Sunday. KeyCorp now expects that the company is likely to post its fully-year EPS of $1.17, down from its previous estimate of $1.21, while fourth-quarter EPS is likely to stand at $0.06 per share. The company also recently has received an initial rating of ‘Outperform’ from Scotia Howard Weill with a price target of $10 per share. In a presentation on Wednesday, Ensco Chief Financial Officer Jon Baksht said that a recovery of the offshore drilling sector depends on higher, more stable oil prices. The sector is seeing the largest drop in utilization of floating units in a long time. A total of 30 funds from our database have positions in ENSCO PLC valued at $546 million in aggregate as of the end of June.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) is trading at $63.78, near its recently-hit 52-week low of $62.39. Recently, the company has announced a special cash dividend of $3 per share pursuant to sale of its non-core assets. It paid $0.50375 per share as a regular dividend in the third quarter. The company also reported that the assets sale yielded an unlevered internal rate of return of 11.8%. At the end of June, 25 investors we track owned about $722 million worth of Equity Residential shares, up from 20 funds and $601 million, respectively a quarter earlier.

Oceaneering International (NYSE:OII) is currently trading at $25.1, which is near its 52-week low of $24.74. The company’s rating of ‘Sector Perfor’ has been recently reaffirmed at RBC Capital Markets, which also has a price target of $28 per share. A total of 32 of the funds we track held about $188 million worth of Oceaneering International shares at the end of June, compared to 24 funds holding $196 million worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Disclosure: none