Hedge Funds Are Buying Stericycle Inc (SRCL): Clean Harbors Inc (CLH), Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN)

Is Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) a first-rate investment today? Money managers are buying. The number of long hedge fund positions increased by 1 recently.

In the financial world, there are tons of methods investors can use to monitor stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you understand what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action regarding Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL).

What have hedge funds been doing with Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL). Renaissance Technologies has a $31.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $9.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, assembled the largest position in Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL). D E Shaw had 9.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $7.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SRCL positions are David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL). These stocks are Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH), Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN), Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM), Veolia Environnement SA (ADR) (NYSE:VE), and Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG). This group of stocks are the members of the waste management industry and their market caps resemble SRCL’s market cap.