With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have jumped into Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) headfirst. Adage Capital Management, led by Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, initiated the largest position in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW). Adage Capital Management had $45.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gregg Moskowitz’s Interval Partners also initiated a $18 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ITW positions are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW). These stocks are Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), Bank of Montreal (USA) (NYSE:BMO), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX). All of these stocks’ market caps match ITW’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| REGN | 29 | 629847 | -3 |
| BMO | 16 | 219051 | 1 |
| NFLX | 55 | 3711921 | 1 |
| PSX | 29 | 7315837 | 3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 32 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.97 billion. That figure was $703 million in ITW’s case. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bank of Montreal (USA) (NYSE:BMO) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard NFLX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
