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Is Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP) a buy here? Prominent investors are really turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund investments improved by 3 in recent months. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with NP positions at the end of the 2016 third quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare NP to other stocks including Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV), Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO), and Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc (NYSE:WAIR) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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Keeping this in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest action encompassing Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP).
What have hedge funds been doing with Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a boost of 43% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 9 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in NP heading into this year. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the largest position in Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP), worth close to $85.5 million, amounting to 0.6% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness AQR Capital Management, which oversees a $2.8 million position. Other professional money managers that hold long positions encompass J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, Roger Ibbotson’s Zebra Capital Management and D E Shaw which is one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. We should note that Forward Management is among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. D E Shaw initiated the largest call position in Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP), reportedly holding a $0.8 million position at the end of the quarter. Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP) but similarly valued. These stocks are Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV), Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO), Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc (NYSE:WAIR), and Central Garden & Pet Co (NASDAQ:CENT). This group of stocks’ market values resemble NP’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| UVV | 14 | 67507 | 0 |
| EXPO | 8 | 60977 | -1 |
| WAIR | 12 | 277830 | -1 |
| CENT | 21 | 114884 | 4 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $130 million. That figure was $94 million in NP’s case. Central Garden & Pet Co (NASDAQ:CENT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Neenah Paper, Inc. (NYSE:NP) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CENT might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
