Is W.R. Grace & Co. (GRA) A Good Stock To Buy?

Page 2 of 2

Seeing as W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there were a few hedgies who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at about $82.2 million in stock. Rob Citrone’s fund, Discovery Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $14.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 8 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) but similarly valued. We will take a look at WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC), Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), and Highwoods Properties Inc (NYSE:HIW). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to GRA’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
WBC 33 1444395 -2
CASY 22 448259 -6
HAIN 32 388383 9
HIW 5 94726 -5

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $594 million. That figure was $1.32 billion in GRA’s case. WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:WBC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Highwoods Properties Inc (NYSE:HIW) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) 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.

Page 2 of 2