With the third-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the fourth quarter. One of these stocks was Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT).
Is Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Prominent investors are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 6 in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD), PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB), and Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) to gather more data points.
Follow Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)
Follow Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)
In today’s marketplace there are a large number of indicators investors have at their disposal to size up stocks. A couple of the less utilized indicators are hedge fund and insider trading signals. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best money managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a solid margin (see the details here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT).
How have hedgies been trading Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 38 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 19% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal’s Luminus Management has the most valuable position in Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT), worth close to $44.9 million, accounting for 1.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Steve Cohen of Point72 Asset Management, with an $38.6 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism contain Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Michael O’Keefe’s 12th Street Asset Management.
Consequently, some big names have jumped into Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) headfirst. Buckingham Capital Management, managed by David Keidan, established the biggest position in Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT). Buckingham Capital Management had $7.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made an $5.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SWFT positions are Doug Gordon, Jon Hilsabeck and Don Jabro’s Shellback Capital, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT). We will take a look at Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD), PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB), Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE), and NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NGL). This group of stocks’ market values match SWFT’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAFD | 13 | 73687 | 3 |
| PSB | 8 | 42976 | -2 |
| UE | 8 | 11344 | -2 |
| NGL | 7 | 10619 | 0 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $35 million. That figure was $268 million in SWFT’s case. Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) is the most popular stock in this table, while the least popular one is NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NGL). Compared to these stocks Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT), with 38 bullish hedge fund positions, is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
