Is Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW) a buy, sell, or hold? Investors who are in the know are taking a bearish view. The number of long hedge fund positions shrunk by 1 in recent months.
In the financial world, there are many methods shareholders can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are many stimuli for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action regarding Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW).
Hedge fund activity in Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW)
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the most valuable position in Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW), worth close to $86.7 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $64.2 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Jay Petschek and Steven Major’s Corsair Capital Management, Rishi Bajaj, Toby Symonds, and Steve Tesoriere’s Altai Capital and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Because Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes at the end of the year. Intriguingly, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies we key on, worth about $42.2 million in stock. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the year.
How have insiders been trading Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW). These stocks are Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP), P.H. Glatfelter Company (NYSE:GLT), KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. (NYSE:KS), Buckeye Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BKI), and Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (NYSE:SWM). This group of stocks are the members of the paper & paper products industry and their market caps match CLW’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE:RFP) | 21 | 1 | 0 |
| P.H. Glatfelter Company (NYSE:GLT) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. (NYSE:KS) | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| Buckeye Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BKI) | 7 | 1 | 5 |
| Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (NYSE:SWM) | 14 | 0 | 2 |
With the results shown by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Clearwater Paper Corp (NYSE:CLW) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
