Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR): Are Hedge Funds Right To Sell Off This Stock?

Judging by the fact that Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE:IR) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few money managers that decided to sell off their full holdings heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Robert Polak’s Anchor Bolt Capital dropped the biggest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $56 million in stock, and Gregg Moskowitz’s Interval Partners was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $42.7 million worth of shares.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE:IR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP), AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE:ABC), and Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O). This group of stocks’ market values match IR’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 42 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.06 billion. That figure was $1.31 billion in IR’s case. Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE:IR) 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 EXPE might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None