Here Is What Hedge Funds Think About Robert Half International Inc. (RHI)

Is Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy league graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments (for some reason media paid a ton of attention to Ackman’s gigantic JC Penney and Valeant failures) and it is a fact that hedge funds’ picks don’t beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk.

Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately. At the end of this article we will also compare RHI to other stocks including CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK), and Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to review the key action encompassing Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI).

How are hedge funds trading Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 28 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 4% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management has the largest position in Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI), worth close to $47.1 million, amounting to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On AQR Capital Management’s heels is Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, which holds a $39.3 million position; 0.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions comprise Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) headfirst. Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, created the most valuable position in Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI). Carlson Capital had $6.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management also initiated a $2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, Lawrence Sapanski’s Scoria Capital, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK), Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), and Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble RHI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1243 million. That figure was $226 million in RHI’s case. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SPR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.