United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) is a beast. You know it, we know it. Heck, some URI investors knew about the gains before they happened. How are hedge funds trading it a year later?
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of metrics investors can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as useful, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to look at the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s examine the latest info for United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI).
How have hedgies been trading United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI)?
At Q2’s end, a total of 48 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -4% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, Marcato Capital Management, managed by Richard McGuire, holds the largest position in United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI). Marcato Capital Management has a $178.6 million position in the stock, comprising 17.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is PAR Capital Management, managed by Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro, which held a $70 million position; the fund has 2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited, John Murphy’s Alydar Capital and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP.
Due to the fact United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) has experienced bearish sentiment from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds who sold off their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments dumped the largest investment of all the hedgies we key on, totaling an estimated $21.3 million in stock. Andrew Sandler’s fund, Sandler Capital Management, also dropped its stock, about $19.5 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds at the end of the second quarter.
How have insiders been trading United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 12 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI). These stocks are Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL), Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HTZ), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR), Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R), and AMERCO (NASDAQ:UHAL). This group of stocks belong to the rental & leasing services industry and their market caps are similar to URI’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) | 16 | 1 | 4 |
| Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HTZ) | 84 | 1 | 13 |
| Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) | 41 | 0 | 8 |
| Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R) | 25 | 0 | 7 |
| AMERCO (NASDAQ:UHAL) | 19 | 1 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by the previously mentioned analyses, average investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) applies perfectly to this mantra.
