SpartanNash Co (SPTN): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

The 700+ hedge funds and money managers tracked by Insider Monkey have already compiled and submitted their 13F filings for the third quarter, which unveil their equity positions as of September 30. We went through these filings, fixed typos and other more significant errors and identified the changes in hedge fund positions. Our extensive review of these public filings is finally over, so this article is set to reveal the smart money sentiment towards SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN).

SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN) was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. SPTN has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with SPTN holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX), Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), and Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO) to gather more data points.

If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are seen as worthless, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds trading at present, Our experts look at the leaders of this club, around 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people manage bulk of the smart money’s total asset base, and by shadowing their highest performing equity investments, Insider Monkey has uncovered several investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action encompassing SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN).

What have hedge funds been doing with SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, up by 6% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Private Capital Management, managed by Gregg J. Powers, holds the most valuable position in SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN). At the end of the quarter, the fund had a $27.8 million position in the stock, comprising 3.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Renaissance Technologies holding a $10.1 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that hold long positions include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management.

As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Stevens Capital Management, managed by Matthew Tewksbury, assembled the biggest position in SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN). Stevens Capital Management had $0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX), Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), Adecoagro SA (NYSE:AGRO), and Hortonworks Inc (NASDAQ:HDP). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble SPTN’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $169 million. That figure was just $69 million in SPTN’s case. Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) and Hortonworks Inc (NASDAQ:HDP) are leading the pack, while Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN) 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.