Hedge Funds Are Buying A. Schulman Inc (SHLM)

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 A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM).

A. Schulman Inc was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. SHLM investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with SHLM positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare SHLM to other stocks including Engility Holdings Inc (NYSE:EGL), Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK), and Videocon d2h Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:VDTH) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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According to most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, Our experts hone in on the top tier of this club, around 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors administer bulk of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by monitoring their matchless equity investments, Insider Monkey has come up with a few investment strategies that have historically outrun the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy surpassed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the fresh action encompassing A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM).

Hedge fund activity in A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM)

Heading into Q4, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 38% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management has the number one position in A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM), worth close to $51.7 million, corresponding to 3.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Royce & Associates, led by Chuck Royce, holding a $10.3 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism comprise Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, created the most outsized position in A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM). Citadel Investment Group had $3.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP also initiated a $2.1 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SHLM investors: Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, and Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Engility Holdings Inc (NYSE:EGL), Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK), Videocon d2h Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:VDTH), and Capstead Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:CMO). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to SHLM’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
EGL 12 34808 3
MACK 10 15406 -3
VDTH 19 144936 -2
CMO 7 17484 -4

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $53 million. That figure was $84 million in SHLM’s case. Videocon d2h Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:VDTH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Capstead Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:CMO) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. A. Schulman Inc (NASDAQ:SHLM) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This makes SHLM worth a closer look.