Is The Valspar Corporation (VAL) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL) has experienced a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many methods shareholders can use to track stocks. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to break down the financial markets. There are plenty of reasons for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action surrounding The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL).

Hedge fund activity in The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL)

At Q1’s end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

Of the funds we track, Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, holds the biggest position in The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL). Iridian Asset Management has a $227.5 million position in the stock, comprising 3.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Senator Investment Group, managed by Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin, which held a $135.8 million position; 1.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Judging by the fact that The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors said goodbye to the largest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling about $1.8 million in stock.. Jacob Gottlieb’s fund, Visium Asset Management, also dropped its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL). These stocks are Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK), International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF), Rockwood Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ROC), W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA), and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty chemicals industry and their market caps match VAL’s market cap.