Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently.
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Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a look at the recent action encompassing Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU).
How have hedgies been trading Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 12% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, established the most valuable call position in Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU). Moore Global Investments had 14.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also made a $14.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AGU positions are Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management, Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, and Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron’s Scoggin.
What have insiders been doing with Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU). These stocks are Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT), Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), and CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF). This group of stocks are in the agricultural chemicals industry and their market caps are closest to AGU’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) | 39 | 1 | 1 |
| CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) | 41 | 0 | 3 |
With the returns exhibited by our studies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU) applies perfectly to this mantra.
