To many traders, hedge funds are assumed to be delayed, old investment vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds in operation currently, Insider Monkey looks at the elite of this group, about 525 funds. It is widely held that this group controls most of the smart money’s total capital, and by monitoring their highest quality investments, we’ve discovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).
Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are many incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Thus, we’re going to study the newest info surrounding Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL).
Hedge fund activity in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL)
At Q2’s end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, holds the largest position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL). Iridian Asset Management has a $66.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by First Eagle Investment Management, managed by Matt McLennan, which held a $58.2 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that hold long positions include David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Due to the fact Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) has witnessed declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers that slashed their positions entirely at the end of the second quarter. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, totaling an estimated $9 million in stock, and Robert B. Gillam of McKinley Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $6.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How have insiders been trading Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL). These stocks are Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP), Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE), Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK), MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV), and Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE:RKT). This group of stocks are in the packaging & containers industry and their market caps match BLL’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) | 37 | 0 | 0 |
| Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) | 29 | 0 | 0 |
| MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE:MWV) | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Rock-Tenn Company (NYSE:RKT) | 37 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results explained by Insider Monkey’s strategies, regular investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
