MeadWestvaco Corp. (MWV): Hedge Fund and Insider Sentiment Unchanged, What Should You Do?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of indicators shareholders can use to analyze Mr. Market. Two 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 best money managers can outclass the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to examine the latest info about MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV).

What does the smart money think about MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

According to our 13F database, Soros Fund Management, managed by George Soros, holds the most valuable position in MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV). Soros Fund Management has a $62.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is First Eagle Investment Management, managed by Matt McLennan, which held a $32.2 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management.

As MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV) has witnessed declining interest from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Thomas A. Giovine’s Giovine Capital dropped the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling about $4.7 million in call options., and Israel Englander of Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.5 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What do corporate executives and insiders think about MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV). These stocks are Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP), Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE), Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL), Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK), and Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE:RKT). This group of stocks are the members of the packaging & containers industry and their market caps are closest to MWV’s market cap.

Using the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s analyses, regular investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV) is an important part of this process.

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