Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Rogers Corporation (ROG)

Is Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) the right investment to pursue these days? Money managers are in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets inched up by 4 recently.

According to most market participants, hedge funds are seen as worthless, outdated financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the upper echelon of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group controls most of the smart money’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their top picks, we have spotted a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a number of stimuli for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG).

How have hedgies been trading Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 36% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management had the most valuable position in Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG), worth close to $51.9 million, comprising 2.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Michael Doheny of Freshford Capital Management, with a $37.5 million position; 5.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that hold long positions include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Richard S. Meisenberg’s ACK Asset Management and Carl Tiedemann and Michael Tiedemann’s TIG Advisors.

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the most valuable position in Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG). Millennium Management had 1.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Insider trading activity in Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG). These stocks are AEP Industries (NASDAQ:AEPI), Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB), Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MYE), Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI), and Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG). All of these stocks are in the rubber & plastics industry and their market caps are closest to ROG’s market cap.