Avery Dennison Corp (AVY): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Hutchin Hill Capital, managed by Neil Chriss, established the most outsized position in Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY). Hutchin Hill Capital had $4.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates also initiated a $1.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AVY positions are Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY) but similarly valued. We will take a look at EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK), athenahealth, Inc (NASDAQ:ATHN), Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd (NYSE:TRQ), and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble AVY’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $369 million. That figure was $206 million in AVY’s case. Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard HII might be a better candidate to consider a long position.