Should You Buy Greif, Inc. (GEF)?

As we already know from media reports and hedge fund investor letters, many hedge funds lost money in the third quarter, blaming macroeconomic conditions and unpredictable events that hit several sectors, with healthcare among them. Nevertheless, most investors decided to stick to their bullish theses and their long-term focus allows us to profit from the recent declines. In particular, let’s take a look at what hedge funds think about Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) in this article.

Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest lately. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article, we will examine companies such as ABM Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ABM), China Lodging Group, Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:HTHT), and M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings (NASDAQ:MTSI) to gather more data points.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of signals market participants can use to value stocks. A couple of the most under-the-radar signals are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see the details here).

Now, we’re going to analyze the fresh action surrounding Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF).

How are hedge funds trading Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, an increase of 50% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Paul J. Isaac’s Arbiter Partners Capital Management has the number one position in Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF), worth close to $35.2 million, accounting for 3.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $32.6 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.