Sonoco Products Company (SON): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

To the average investor, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to track stocks. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outclass the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).

Just as necessary, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Furthermore, it’s important to examine the recent info surrounding Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON).

How are hedge funds trading Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 9% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON), worth close to $39.9 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $16.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Consequently, certain money managers have been driving this bullishness. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, initiated the most outsized position in Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON). Royce & Associates had 39.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $16.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

What have insiders been doing with Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, 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 Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON). These stocks are Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG), Owens-Illinois Inc (NYSE:OI), Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN), Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS), and AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR). All of these stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps are closest to SON’s market cap.

Using the returns shown by our research, regular investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) is an important part of this process.

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