USG Corporation (NYSE:USG): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Is USG Corporation (NYSE:USG) an exceptional investment today? The smart money is selling. The number of long hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience

In today’s marketplace, there are many gauges shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. There are many incentives for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action surrounding USG Corporation (NYSE:USG).

What does the smart money think about USG Corporation (NYSE:USG)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the biggest position in USG Corporation (NYSE:USG). Berkshire Hathaway has a $479 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $41 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Because USG Corporation (NYSE:USG) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their positions entirely last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Peter J. Eichler Jr.’s Aletheia Research and Management dumped the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth an estimated $18 million in stock., and Andrew Sandler of Sandler Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $7 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

How are insiders trading USG Corporation (NYSE:USG)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, USG Corporation (NYSE:USG) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and USG Corporation (NYSE:USG) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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