Hedge Funds Are Betting On Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (PKOH)

Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. PKOH has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with PKOH positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are dozens of metrics shareholders can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. There are many reasons for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action encompassing Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH).

How are hedge funds trading Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the biggest position in Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH). GAMCO Investors has a $33.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $4.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the most outsized position in Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH). Millennium Management had 0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH). These stocks are Graham Corporation (NYSEAMEX:GHM), Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS), Tower International Inc (NYSE:TOWR), Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. (NASDAQ:GIFI), and A M Castle and Co (NYSE:CAS). All of these stocks are in the metal fabrication industry and their market caps resemble PKOH’s market cap.