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 September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY).
So, is Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) a buy here? Prominent investors are becoming less confident, as the number of long hedge fund positions decreased by seven in recent months. At the end of this article we will also compare BERY to other stocks including Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU), and Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Berry Global Group Inc. (NYSE:BERY)
Follow Berry Global Group Inc. (NYSE:BERY)
At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.
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Keeping this in mind, let’s take a glance at the key action regarding Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY).
What have hedge funds been doing with Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY)?
During the third quarter, the number of investors tracked by Insider Monkey bullish on Berry Plastics Group declined by 13% to 46. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Robert Polak’s Anchor Bolt Capital has the most valuable position in Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY), worth close to $224 million, comprising 6.9% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Canyon Capital Advisors, managed by Joshua Friedman and Mitchell Julis, which holds a $156.5 million position; the fund has 5.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism include Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors, Joshua Kaufman and Craig Nerenberg’s Brenner West Capital Partners, and Martin D. Sass’ MD Sass.
Because Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $97.5 million in stock, and Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $19.4 million worth of shares.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) but similarly valued. These stocks are Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU), Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN), and ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to BERY’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SKX | 22 | 227597 | -5 |
| MDU | 10 | 37744 | 0 |
| EGN | 32 | 787239 | 0 |
| ABMD | 24 | 580613 | -5 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $408 million. That figure was close to $1.30 billion in BERY’s case. With 32 funds holding shares, Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand MDU Resources Group Inc (NYSE:MDU) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
