A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended March 31st, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT).
Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) was in 38 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic is 36. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. There were 36 hedge funds in our database with VNT holdings at the end of December. Our calculations also showed that VNT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 206.8% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 115 percentage points (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Jeffrey Gates of Gates Capital
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium mining is one of the fastest growing industries right now, so we are checking out stock pitches like this emerging lithium stock. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage. Keeping this in mind let’s go over the recent hedge fund action surrounding Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT).
Do Hedge Funds Think VNT Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At Q1’s end, a total of 38 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 6% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards VNT over the last 23 quarters. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Gates Capital Management was the largest shareholder of Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT), with a stake worth $153.7 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Gates Capital Management was Laurion Capital Management, which amassed a stake valued at $124.2 million. Miller Value Partners, Arrowstreet Capital, and D E Shaw were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position DSAM Partners allocated the biggest weight to Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT), around 7.44% of its 13F portfolio. Gates Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 5.59 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to VNT.
Consequently, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Miller Value Partners, managed by Bill Miller, initiated the largest position in Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT). Miller Value Partners had $58.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also initiated a $21.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Scott Bessent’s Key Square Capital Management, David Rosen’s Rubric Capital Management, and Clint Murray’s Lodge Hill Capital.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT). We will take a look at Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK), CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR), ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN), Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS), and Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to VNT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PK | 18 | 101472 | 5 |
| CIT | 28 | 802021 | -3 |
| GLPG | 20 | 167561 | 8 |
| CAR | 21 | 1724243 | -7 |
| ASGN | 20 | 78754 | 6 |
| FLS | 29 | 174239 | 8 |
| CYBR | 32 | 502899 | 5 |
| Average | 24 | 507313 | 3.1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $507 million. That figure was $787 million in VNT’s case. Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) is more popular among hedge funds. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for VNT is 87. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 19.3% in 2021 through June 25th and still managed to beat the market by 4.8 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on VNT, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 8.3% since the end of March (through June 25th) and outperformed the market as well.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
