Is Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) a good investment?
If you were to ask many investors, hedge funds are viewed as bloated, old investment vehicles of a forgotten age. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds in operation currently, Insider Monkey aim at the upper echelon of this club, around 525 funds. It is assumed that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total assets, and by watching their best equity investments, we’ve determined a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).
Just as necessary, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for an insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).
Thus, we’re going to discuss the latest info surrounding Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK).
What does the smart money think about Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -32% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially.
Since Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) has experienced bearish sentiment from the top-tier hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management said goodbye to the largest stake of the 450+ funds we key on, valued at close to $10.2 million in stock, and Jeffrey Bersh and Michael Wartell of Venor Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $9.3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 9 funds at the end of the second quarter.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK). These stocks are Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS), AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR), Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON), Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN), and Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF). This group of stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps are closest to GPK’s market cap.
