Is Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (CCE) A Good Stock To Buy?

It was a rough third quarter for many hedge funds, which were naturally unable to overcome the big dip in the broad market, as the S&P 500 fell by about 7% during the quarter. The Russell 2000, composed of smaller companies, performed even worse, trailing the S&P by about 14 percentage points between June 25 and October 30, as investors fled less-known quantities for safe havens. This was the case with hedge funds, who we heard were pulling money from the market amid the volatility, which included money from small-cap stocks, which they invest in at a higher rate than other investors. This action contributed to the greater decline in these stocks during the tumultuous period. We will study how this market volatility affected their sentiment towards Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) during the quarter below.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. At the end of this article we will also compare CCE to other stocks, including Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC), Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX), and Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are seen as slow, outdated investment tools of years past. While there are over an 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, Our researchers choose to focus on the bigwigs of this group, around 700 funds. These hedge fund managers manage the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by watching their matchless picks, Insider Monkey has found several investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

Now, let’s take a peek at the fresh action surrounding Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE).

What have hedge funds been doing with Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE)?

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 drop of 13% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Laurion Capital Management, managed by Benjamin A. Smith, holds the largest position in Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE). According to its latest 13F filing, the fund has a $108.8 million call options position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, run by Israel Englander, which holds a $93.2 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism comprise D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Craig C. Albert’s Sheffield Asset Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Due to the fact that Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management sold off the biggest position of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $388.6 million in call options. John Lykouretzos’s fund, Hoplite Capital Management, also said goodbye to its call options, about $86.9 million worth of. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) but similarly valued. These stocks are Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC), Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), and Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to CCE’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $806 million. That figure was $848 million in CCE’s case. Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE) 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 MOS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.