Barnes Group Inc. (B): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

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Should Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B) investors track the following data?

To the average investor, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to monitor publicly traded companies. Two 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 best hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as crucial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, let’s discuss the latest info for Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B).

Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B)

Hedge fund activity in Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B)

Heading into Q3, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -31% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Jeffrey Gates’s Gates Capital Management had the most valuable position in Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B), worth close to $41.1 million, comprising 1.9% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $19.2 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies that are bullish include David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management, Gregory A. Weaver’s Invicta Capital Management and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Because Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B) has witnessed dropping sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors said goodbye to the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, comprising about $2.4 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time frame, Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B). These stocks are Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ:SNHY), Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE:MWA), EnPro Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NPO), TriMas Corp (NASDAQ:TRS), and Watts Water Technologies Inc (NYSE:WTS). This group of stocks are in the industrial equipment & components industry and their market caps are similar to B’s market cap.

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