AK Steel Holding Corporation (AKS) Sinks Further On Below Consensus Guidance: Is The Stock Worth Buying?

Hedge fund activity in AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS)

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long in this stock, a change of -33% from the end of the fourth quarter, while invested capital also decreased heavily, to $141 million from $240 million (though the poor performance of shares during the first quarter accounts for some of that).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Kurt Billick’s Bocage Capital had the most valuable position in AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS), worth close to $25.1 million, corresponding to 12% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Balyasny Asset Management, led by Dmitry Balyasny, holding a $20 million position. Balyasny Asset Management has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions comprise Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Kenneth Tropin’s Graham Capital Management, and Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital.

Judging by the fact that AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) has witnessed a substantial decline in interest from the hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management dropped the biggest stake of the 700+ funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $21.4 million in stock. Joe DiMenna of ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $16.2 million worth of stock. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 10 funds last quarter.

Despite the insider buying, which did indeed signal a short-term turnaround for the stock, because of the substantial decrease in hedge fund interest last quarter and the recent cuts to guidance that followed their bearish sentiment, we feel the window has passed to buy AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) at a good price, and the stock should be avoided for now.

Disclosure: None