Is C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) the right pick for your portfolio? Hedge funds are turning bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions went up by 9 lately.
To the average investor, there are a multitude of metrics market participants can use to monitor stocks. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).
Just as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a look at the latest action surrounding C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW), one of the biggest logistics companies in the World.
Hedge fund activity in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW)
Heading into Q2, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 47% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
Of the funds we track, Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management had the most valuable position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW), worth close to $232.8 million, accounting for 1.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Yacktman Asset Management’s heels is James Crichton and Adam Weiss of Scout Capital Management, with a $142.7 million position; 1.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management, David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have jumped into C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) headfirst. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, assembled the largest position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW). Renaissance Technologies had 40.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management also initiated a $29.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new CHRW investors: Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Insider trading activity in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW)
Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW). These stocks are United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS), Hub Group Inc (NASDAQ:HUBG), UTi Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:UTIW), FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), and Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD). This group of stocks belong to the air delivery & freight services industry and their market caps match CHRW’s market cap.
Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) | 42 | 0 | 6 |
Hub Group Inc (NASDAQ:HUBG) | 8 | 0 | 4 |
UTi Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:UTIW) | 11 | 0 | 2 |
FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) | 44 | 0 | 10 |
Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) | 34 | 0 | 9 |
With the returns shown by the aforementioned studies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) is an important part of this process.