We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) based on that data.
Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) was in 32 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. BOX investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with BOX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that box isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We’re going to take a look at the key hedge fund action surrounding Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX).
How have hedgies been trading Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 32 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 30 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in BOX a year ago. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Bares Capital Management held the most valuable stake in Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX), which was worth $164.2 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was SQN Investors which amassed $68.7 million worth of shares. Moreover, RGM Capital, Luxor Capital Group, and Renaissance Technologies were also bullish on Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. RGM Capital, managed by Robert G. Moses, initiated the most valuable position in Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX). RGM Capital had $26.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group also initiated a $26.5 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new BOX investors: Wallace Weitz’s Wallace R. Weitz & Co., Thomas Ellis and Todd Hammer’s North Run Capital, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at GATX Corporation (NYSE:GATX), Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE:NOAH), Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS), and Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY). This group of stocks’ market values match BOX’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| GATX | 11 | 239346 | -3 |
| NOAH | 14 | 253895 | 3 |
| PAAS | 17 | 212637 | 2 |
| MCY | 15 | 142808 | -3 |
| Average | 14.25 | 212172 | -0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $212 million. That figure was $472 million in BOX’s case. Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand GATX Corporation (NYSE:GATX) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on BOX, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned -0.7% during the same period and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
