Should You Add Graco Inc. (GGG) to Your Portfolio?

Consequently, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Select Equity Group, led by Robert Joseph Caruso, established the most outsized position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG). Select Equity Group had $14.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Millennium Management, one of the 10 largest hedge funds in the world also initiated a $3.9 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new GGG investors: George Hall’s Clinton Group, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS), Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG), and Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to GGG’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $214 million, versus $154 million in GGG’s case. Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) registered the same number of funds with long positions as Penske Automotive Group. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: none