Is Oshkosh Corporation (OSK) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) a buy, sell, or hold? The smart money is buying. The number of long hedge fund positions improved by 3 recently.

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many stimuli for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action surrounding Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK).

What have hedge funds been doing with Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 14% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, First Pacific Advisors LLC, managed by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick, holds the biggest position in Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK). First Pacific Advisors LLC has a $118.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Third Avenue Management, managed by Martin Whitman, which held a $63.9 million position; 1.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) headfirst. First Pacific Advisors LLC, managed by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick, initiated the largest position in Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK). First Pacific Advisors LLC had 118.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management also made a $2.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new OSK positions are Israel Englander’s Catapult Capital Management, Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK). These stocks are Accuride Corporation (NYSE:ACW), Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC), Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc (NYSE:HY), PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ:PCAR), and Navistar International Corp (NYSE:NAV). This group of stocks are in the trucks & other vehicles industry and their market caps are similar to OSK’s market cap.