Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD)

Is Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) the right investment to pursue these days? Investors who are in the know are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets went up by 8 in recent months.

In the financial world, there are tons of methods shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD).

Hedge fund activity in Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD)

Heading into Q2, a total of 34 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 31% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, International Value Advisers, managed by Charles de Vaulx, holds the most valuable position in Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD). International Value Advisers has a $235.5 million position in the stock, comprising 5.4% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Merchants’ Gate Capital, managed by Jason Capello, which held a $89.3 million call position; the fund has 4.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Merchants’ Gate Capital, managed by Jason Capello, initiated the biggest call position in Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD). Merchants’ Gate Capital had 89.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $48.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EXPD investors: Robert Pohly’s Samlyn Capital, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, and Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management.

What have insiders been doing with Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time period, Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 9 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD). These stocks are Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD), Hub Group Inc (NASDAQ:HUBG), UTi Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:UTIW), FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW). This group of stocks belong to the air delivery & freight services industry and their market caps are similar to EXPD’s market cap.