Is Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) a bargain? Investors who are in the know are becoming less hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions decreased by 1 recently.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of methods market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. 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 best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a healthy amount (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY).
What have hedge funds been doing with Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -9% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.
Of the funds we track, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group had the most valuable position in Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY), worth close to $84.2 million, accounting for 1.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis of Canyon Capital Advisors, with a $29.6 million position; 4.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management LP, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management and Jeffrey Tannenbaum’s Fir Tree.
Because Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q2. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group said goodbye to the largest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling about $10.7 million in stock.. Paul Tudor Jones’s fund, Tudor Investment Corp, also cut its stock, about $2.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds heading into Q2.
How have insiders been trading Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time frame, Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY). These stocks are Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG), Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL), Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB). This group of stocks are the members of the rubber & plastics industry and their market caps match BERY’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Tredegar Corporation (NYSE:TG) | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL) | 17 | 0 | 2 |
| Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) | 22 | 0 | 1 |
With the results demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s tactics, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
