Is Carlisle Companies, Inc. (CSL) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL) investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of gauges market participants can use to analyze their holdings. Two of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the recent action surrounding Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL).

How have hedgies been trading Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, holds the biggest position in Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL). Dreman Value Management has a $29.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Basswood Capital, managed by Matthew Lindenbaum, which held a $22.9 million position; 1.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other peers with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Due to the fact that Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers who were dropping their full holdings at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, valued at close to $31.5 million in stock., and Israel Englander of Catapult Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $2.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL). These stocks are Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI), Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB), Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY), and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT). This group of stocks are in the rubber & plastics industry and their market caps resemble CSL’s market cap.