Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and famous investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds and investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund’s trades on several financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN) based on that data.
Is ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN) a bargain? Hedge funds are becoming hopeful. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 5 lately. MAN was in 29 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with MAN holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare MAN to other stocks including Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV), Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE), and Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc (NASDAQ:BUFF) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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What have hedge funds been doing with ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 29 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, up by 21% from the previous quarter, pushing ownership of the stock to a high for the year ended September 30. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital has the number one position in ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN), worth close to $207.4 million, amounting to 1.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Glenview Capital’s heels is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $98.4 million position. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions comprise Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management initiated the largest position in ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN). The fund reportedly had $9.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $2.7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MAN investors: Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN). These stocks are Veeva Systems Inc (NYSE:VEEV), Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE), Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc (NASDAQ:BUFF), and Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to MAN’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| VEEV | 23 | 254286 | 2 |
| ERIE | 9 | 61054 | -1 |
| BUFF | 28 | 309153 | 2 |
| DCI | 12 | 130412 | 0 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $189 million. That figure was $447 million in MAN’s case. Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc (NASDAQ:BUFF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN) 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.
Disclosure: None
